Tres Leches Coconut Cupcakes
Ingredients for cupcakes:
- 1 cup of all-purpose flour
- 1.5 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 5 whole eggs - separated
- 1 cup of sugar (divided in 3/4 and 1/4)
- 1/3 cup Buttermilk
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 1 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup coconut milk
Ingredients for Swiss meringue buttercream:
- 140 grams of egg white (approximately 5 eggs)
- 280 grams of sugar
- 280 grams of butter (420 if you want to go for a 1/2/3 buttercream. This will make it firmer.) Room temperature, but not too soft.
- 1 vanillapod or a teaspoon vanilla-extract
1) Preheat your oven to 170 degrees CELSIUS. This is approximately 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Get your cupcake/muffin tin and put in your cupcake liners. If you don't have a tin, that's okay. Just be really careful not to overfill them then!
2) Combine flour, baking powder and salt. I would suggest also passing it through a sieve to get rid of any lumps have otherwise. Separate your eggs.
3) Take your egg yolks and 3/4 of your sugar. Beat them together on a high speed until the eggs turn a pale yellow. Stir in your buttermilk. Pout this mixture over your flour and stir gently until combined.
4) Time to quickly rinse off the mixing bowl you used to the yolks (if you have a kitchen machine, that it). Make sure the bowl you're about to use is water and oil free. It's time to mix your egg whites!
Beat you egg whites on high speed until soft peaks start to form. Add the last of your sugar (1/4 cup) to the mixture and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry (easy trick is turning the bowl upside down. Brownie points if you do it above your head!).
5) Fold the egg white mixture in with your flour mixture really gently. I like to do this in three batches, adding another batch once the first one is almost entirely folded in. It should look like this:
6) Fill your cupcake liners! I suggest filling them for 3/4. The cupcakes will rise and you don't want them to overflow. Put them in the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes or until golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Let them cool down for about 10 minutes.
7) Combine your condensed milk, your evaporated milk and you coconut milk. Poke some holes in you cupcakes (with a toothpick of a fork) and drizzle the milk mixture over it. I suggest doing this one tablespoon at a time, putting more on once the first layer sunk in a bit. You could also cut off the tops of the cupcakes, the milk mixture will soak in quicker. Leave them in the fridge for a minimum of two hours. Overnight is the best.
8) Now it's time to make the buttercream! Take your egg white and sugar and put them in a heatproof bowl! The bowl of your kitchen machine would be ideal is that's possible. Whisk the sugar and egg whites together until well combined. Then place the bowl above a pan of water, au bain marie. Make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water though!
9) Whisk the mixture above the pan until the sugar is completely dissolved. I usually test it by taking a bit of the mixture in between my fingers and rolling it in between there, seeing how I don't have a candy thermometer. If you still feel the sugar, it's not done yet! If you do have a thermometer, the mixture needs to be at least 70 degrees Celcius (150 degrees fahrenheit). The mixture will also turn white instead of somewhat yellow. It's critical to make sure the egg white at the edges of the bowl does not set!
10) After the sugar is dissolved, beat the mixture on a high speed until it makes firm peaks. It will resemble a marshmellow-y structure, kind of like marshmellow fluff. When the mixture starts to firm up, add your vanilla and your pinch of salt. This step should take about 10 minutes, but I recommend mixing it until your bowl has cooled down. This is easily checked by feeling the sides of the bowl. Otherwise, the butter will melt when you add it and you don't want that! If you feel your mixture is ready before the bowl has cooled down, you can stop whipping it and let the bowl cool down on its own.
11) When that's done, it's time to add the butter. Cut it up into cubes. The result is better when adding the butter in small quantities. Add a few cubes, let it incorporate and then add a few cubes again. Rinse and repeat. Once the butter has incorporated completely, keep on whipping it for a couple of minutes, until it looks nice and fluffy. Sometimes, after adding the butter, it'll look very liquid-y, that's normal. Just continue beating it until it becomes nice and fluffy again! It usually takes 4/5 minutes for me, but it could take longer, depending on your mixer.
12) Okay! Time to get dirty. Get your cupcakes out of the fridge and put your Swiss meringue buttercream in a piping bag. If you don't have one, you could use a sandwich bag or just smear it on the top/make quenelles with a spoon! This is the stage which always gets messy with me. I get it all over my arms and clothes, so I suggest wearing an apron! Pipe the buttercream onto your cupcakes. If you want some fancy adornments like mine (aka; if you want to torment yourself) get some candymelts of white chocolate and melt that down. If it's not liquid enough to pipe out figures, put in some vegetable oil or Crisco!
*If you don't like coconut, you can replace the coconut milk by some (heavy) cream!
**These cupcakes can be saved in the fridge for a week, when covered. They’re good for about 3/4 days outside of the fridge.
***If you have a lot of the buttercream left, you can keep it in the freezer! It's good for 3 months. When using it from the fridge, let it defrost and beat it again right before using it. It should be good then.
