Madhouse recipe : Coconut & Raspberry Cupcakes

Having decided to use up a tub of frozen raspberries that I'd found lurking in the freezer, I had a few ideas of my own - a classic raspberry and white chocolate loaf cake and some deliciously refreshing lemon cream and raspberry tarts - but I still had some left and couldn't think of anything exciting to make with them. The BBC Good Food website came to the rescue with their recipe for Coconut & Raspberry Cupcakes, especially as I already had everything I needed in the cupboards.

Coconut & Raspberry Cupcakes

ingredients :

140g butter or margarine

140g sugar

50g desiccated coconut

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

4 tbsp milk
175g self-raising flour

140g raspberries, fresh or frozen

For the icing

280g icing sugar

85g butter or margarine

4 tbsp raspberry coulis, from a bottle or fresh

a little desiccated or shredded coconut, to decorate

Preheat oven to 190°. Cream together the butter/margarine and the sugar. Add a pinch of salt if using margarine or unsalted butter.

Mix in the dessicated coconut and vanilla essence.

Crack in the eggs and stir in the milk, then mix in the flour to create a smooth batter.

Stir in the raspberries.

Pour into greased silicon muffin trays.

Bake for 15-20 minuutes until firm to the touch. Leave to cool completely.

Beat together the butter/margarine and icing sugar for the icing. Stir through the coulis to give it a lovely deep red colour - I used some of the juice from the defrosted raspberries. It only took a few tablespoons of juice. You may need to add extra icing sugar if it's too runny.

Spoon the icing onto the cupcakes (you could use a piping bag if you want them to look extra pretty) and sprinkle with dessicated coconut.

This used up the frozen raspberries that had been lurking in the freezer since last year so I'm adding it to this month's #KitchenClearout linky.