Last night, Metadrasi had a “kopi pitas” party, which is a New Year’s tradition, where you cut a bread cake where a coin (florin) is baked into it. Whoever gets the piece with the coin gets the luck for the rest of the year. I didn’t get a coin, but it was a great get-together with songs, dancing and wine! I baked and brought these cupcakes to the party, (I didn’t make enough, though!) and let’s hope people who managed to eat one liked them!

The theme of the party was “Place of Origin” and I decided to bake Banana Cupcakes and have coconut frosting to top. I still have a lot of pandan extract, and I thought why not make it even more Malaysian? Coconut, bananas and pandan is a very Malaysian combination – its reminiscent of a dish where bananas are cooked in coconut milk with palm sugar and pandan, called pengat pisang (coming soon!)

Banana Cupcakes

Ingredients: (makes about 24)

• 400g of all-purpose flour
• 250g of granulated sugar
• 100g of brown sugar
• 2 tsps of baking powder
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 100g of butter, melted
• 6 ripe bananas, mashed
• 4 large eggs, beaten lightly
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Line the cupcake tray with liners.
3. In a big mixing bowl, add and mix the flour, the brown and granulated sugars, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
4. Make a well in the center of the mixture, and add the mashed bananas, beaten eggs, butter and vanilla extract.
5. Fold gently until mixed thoroughly (be careful not to over mix!)
6. Scoop out into the cupcake liners halfway up (no more), and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes. The top of the cupcake should be nicely light brown and golden for you to know that it’s done. Alternatively, you can check with a toothpick (when it comes out clean) to see if the cupcakes are ready.
7. Cool cupcakes on a rack, and when its cool, it’s ready to ice/frost/decorate!

Pandan Coconut Frosting

Ingredients: (makes enough for approx. 24 cupcakes)

• 200g of cream cheese
• 100g of butter, softened
• 450g of icing sugar
• 200g of coconut, dessicated or flaked
• 1 tsp of pandan extract

Preparation:

1. In a mixing bowl, with an electric mixer (hand or standalone) beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth.
2. Add the pandan extract, and while on medium speed, add the icing sugar in small quantities until you have used it all., and the colour is all uniform.
3. Gently fold in the coconut, until thoroughly mixed.
4. Transfer the icing into a big icing bag, and you can start icing!