A blade shines in the darkest of the nights
What do you know - it's the time of the month again - the Velveteers' Challenge (Aparna, Alessio, Asha & I). This month we decided to go nutty fruity to lift up our spirit to welcome summer after a long spell of rain and gloomy weather in Europe. At the beginning, I had in mind to make something with cheese, nuts & fruits but I got seduced by Aparna & Shellyfish chatting about their moist, oh so heavenly tasting cupcakes. So curious was I to know if their cupcakes are that good that I started dreaming of it. Soon, my imagination took a different angle - imagining all sort of ways to improvise over the Velveteers' project. Et voilà ! An adapted recipe was born.
I made these cupcakes earlier but didn't have time to post it as I was in the rush to put the house in order, before I left with Little One for a long weekend trip to visit friends and attend a little boy's (Noah) birthday party in Nantes. This time, I was able to meet Jamie of Life's a feast for lunch, had our dessert at her place, met her shy Man & handsome (very French) son, Clément, and of course her adorable but very shy Marty (ooh, I so love Marty). After dessert, we went for a "walk" (I mean shopping spree). I had in mind to shop for a few things for Little One's birthday party but in the end, I bought some tops and a dress for her instead. Jamie got herself a great bargain - a Curnonsky's cookbook for 10 €!! I'm so dying of jealousy! Little One & I had a wonderful time in Nantes and wish that we could stay longer than just over a long weekend. I would also like to thank my wonderful mother-in-law Michèle & sister-in-law Irène for driving us to Nantes and back to Clermont-Ferrand and for taking care of Little One the whole Saturday so that I could spent the day alone with my girlfriends.
(Adapted from Aparna's Cinnamon Cupcakes)
Makes: 8 - 10 cupcakes
Caramel Sauce


Making the caramel sauce

The cupcake is very soft & moist like a sponge cake with a light touch of chocolate flavour. The pear compliments the chocolate cake very well. Everyone loves the cupcakes and the caramel sauce with walnuts topping. I'll make it more chocolaty next time.


The 4 Velveteers
The 4 Velveteers (as we called ourselves) are hosting a monthly event that explores food & cuisine and share our recipes, experiences and verdicts on our blogs. Every month will be a surprise - we never know what we'll make next. So if you're interested in joining the Velveteers, please feel free to drop by our food blogs and leave a comment and we will get back to you.
Do check out what the other Velveteers have come up with:
Of late, our household has been on a "strict" diet (except little ninja) in our effort to shed that few centimeters off our waistline, which is why I haven't been baking much sweet stuff. But when 5 o'clock rings, our mouth really start to crave for something sweet to go with that cup of tea. It doesn't help either that our friends dropped by with delicious pastries. Resist as I might, I caved in to temptation yesterday, browsing excitedly through my pastry books, salivating at each and every cake and cookie (oh gosh, there are so many delicious cakes to make *swooning with pleasure at the photos*). And these little coconut cakes caught my attention - nice beautiful squares looking so inviting and tempting... and coconut plus strawberry? That sounded like an interesting combo.
(taken from Le Grand Livre des Desserts)
Preparation: 40 minutes
Baking: 45 minutes
Makes: 20
Toppings
Toppings


It turned out very delicious: yummy sweet tasting coconut flavour! However the strawberry jam is probably too thin and remains rather quiet (we do taste it a bit, but the coconut flavour is more pronounced). Perhaps it's because the home made jam I used is thin and runny. I'm usually not a big fan of coconut but this one is really good![]()
These coconut squares are more like a pastry than a cookie or biscuits. It's soft and moist - prefect as little cakes (as the book calls it 'les petits gateaux') for tea or coffee time - just what I was looking for
.
I found the dough to be a bit too soft and sticky to roll out onto the baking dish. If I bake it again, I will let the dough sit in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes or more to firm up before rolling it out on the tray.
I baked my dough at 220°C for 10 minutes instead of following the book.
