Carmel Moore's koko cupcakes with koko lime icing

Carmel’s natural beauty is surpassed by something even more beautiful — she has a belly laugh that could fill a room! Carmel’s use of raw sugar in this terrific cupcake recipe adds a caramel flavour. She moistens the recipe with coconut cream and coconut oil — that’s culinary fa‘a Samoa.

Recipe from Robert Oliver's book Mea'ai Samoa.

Cupcakes

1 ½ cups	Raw sugar
1 ½ cups	Flour
¾ cup	Koko Samoa (Main)
½ tsp	Salt
1 tsp	Baking powder
1 tsp	Baking soda
1 tsp	Vanilla extract
2 medium	Eggs
½ cup	Coconut cream
½ cup	Coconut oil (Main)
¾ cup	Water, boiling

Icing

1 ½ cups	Icing sugar
2 Tbsp	Koko Samoa, finely grated (Main)
2 Tbsp	Water, boiling
2 tsp	Fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp	Coconut cream
1 serving	Coconut, grated to garnish

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 160C. Place cupcake papers in muffin tin holes.
2. Combine all of the ingredients, except the boiling water. Beat for about 2 minutes.
3. Add the boiling water and mix well.
4. Pour into prepared muffin tin and bake for 30 minutes. Cool before icing.
5. For the icing:Combine all ingredients except the grated coconut and whisk until smooth. Top each cupcake with a generous dollop of koko lime icing and garnish with freshly grated coconut.

Check out more from Robert Oliver's booksMea'ai SamoaandMe'a Kai:

• Green banana green bean salad
• Goat and green pawpaw curry