Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Blueberry Coconut Cream Frosting
– by Priscilla Soligo, founder of Rawthentic Food
This heavenly raw cupcake recipe by Chef Priscilla can be created easily at home. All you need to get your hands on is one of those flexible silicon cup cake trays so you can pop out the base with ease. That’s really the key to getting raw cupcakes to look this gorgeous! Take note of Priscilla’s detailed instructions for creating the cupcake frosting with a firm yet creamy texture.
Ingredients
Cupcake Base:
- 2 (258g) Cups Almond Pulp , (defrosted and excess water squeezed out. Almond pulp is the left over almond after almond milk has been made with water in a blender and strained, see method #10)
- 1 (87g) Cup Dessicated Coconut Flakes
- 1/4 Cup Coconut Nectar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1/8 tsp Pink Himalayan Crystal Salt
Blueberry Coconut Frosting:
- 2 1/2 Cups Coconut Butter Melted, (271g pre-melted measurement)
- 1 1/2 (190g) Cups Blueberries
- 1 (60g) Cup Macadamia Nuts, (or cashews, pre-soaked 2 hours)
- 1/2 Cup Raw Organic Honey, (or coconut nectar for lower glycemic sweetener)
- 1 Cup Filtered Water
Method
1. For the cupcake base
In a food processor, process all ingredients together and place cupcake dough into a large bowl.
2. Using 14 mini silicon cupcake moulds, press the dough firmly into each one making sure the top is flat. Place in the freezer for 2 hours for the cupcakes to get up. This will make moulds easier to remove. During this time, commence making the frosting.
3. Remove from the freezer and here you have two options.
Deyhdrator Option 1: Remove cupcakes from silicone moulds. Place cupcake bases onto a mesh lined dehydrator tray (not teflex sheet) and dehydrate at 118 for 6 hours. Remove from dehydrator and allow to cool all the way through completely before icing.
No-Dehydrator Option 2: Remove cupcakes from silicon moulds. You are ready to ice your cupcake! We like to use either options in our family.
4. Using a knife, gently place frosting on top of the cupcake and garnish with a blueberry.
5. Storage: The dehydrated cupcake bases keep well frozen for up to two months in an airtight sealed container. The non-dehydrated cupcake bases will keep for up to a month, or so in the freezer in an airtight sealed container. The frosting will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks in an airtight glass sealed container.
6. Variation: Replace the blueberries with other berries such as, raspberries, blackberries, or strawberries, or a ‘very berry’ combination.
7. For the Frosting
In a high speed blender, place in all ingredients except blueberries and blend until smooth and well incorporated. Pour into a large mixing bowl and set aside.
8. In a separate bowl, mash the blueberries with a fork. Fold in gently (don’t over mix) blueberry mixture with frosting mixture so you can see two tones showing through.
9. Refrigerate frosting overnight, or for at least 8 hours before frosting the cupcakes. For a faster set up try freezing and then stirring gently hourly for 3 – 4 hours to keep the temperature consistant. This is a ‘cream’ frosting and won’t set stiff.
Almond Pulp and Almond Milk
10. Almond Milk
- 3 Cups Raw Almonds (pre-soaked 8 hours, or overnight, rinsed and drained)
- 6 Cups Filtered Water
In a high speed blender, blend together almonds until you cannot hear the ‘crunching’ of the nuts against the blender.
In a large bowl, using a nut milk bag, strain and squeeze all of the milk out and reserve the almond ‘pulp’ to place into a zip lock bag and into the freezer.
This will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer, or use straight away for the above recipe. This recipe calls for 3 1/2 Cups, or 450g.
Drink and enjoy the milk, or place it back into a clean blender and add fruits, or super foods and your favorite sweetener for a delicious shake! You can also add more water, if you prefer a thinner milk.
In our family, we accumulate over time our frozen almond pulp left over from making my sons almond milk (ratio: 1/2 Cup almonds to 2 Cups water). Once we have enough, then I will go ahead and defrost it all and make a cake!
This recipe was created and kindly contributed by Chef Priscilla Soligo of Rawthentic Food. Be sure to let her know what you think in the comments below!
About Chef Priscilla
Priscilla Soligo is the founder of Rawthentic Food, an educational and catering company dedicated to organic plant-based raw food health in Hong Kong. She is a fully certified gourmet raw food chef and certified detox instructor from Pure Joy Culinary Academy (USA) and has trained directly with world master raw food chef Elaina Love. She has also personally trained with Sydney Australia’s most prominent raw food chef, Julie Mitsios of Conscious Choice.
Priscilla completed her Bachelor Degree in Early Childhood Development from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia along with her Raw Food Nutritional Studies from The Body Mind Institute Canada and David Wolfe’s Ultimate Raw Certification, which combine her love of children and raw food together. She is a raw chef recipe contributor on a global platform to premier online raw food sites, as well as a regular contributor to Hong Kong’s popular parent and child magazine, Playtimes and continues to be published in magazines in Hong Kong and the United States. She is an avid supporter of local organic farming and is currently producing her first e-book. Best of all, Priscilla is a wife and a mother to an adorable toddler.