Asian Inspirations

Banh Mi

Today we went to Little Saigon or China City.  The place is a mini Asian city in Falls Church. You can find anything and everything Asian there.  Tony and I like to go there for sandwiches called Banh mi.  I love Cilantro and this sandwich is loaded with it.  We also get a sweet pork bun (which never makes it out of the store before it's eaten) and my daughters favorite coconut bun which inspired me to attempt to make a vanilla bean cupcake with the same filling that is inside the coconut bun.  I found the perfect vanilla bean cream cupcake Recipe.

Coconut Bun

Vanilla Cream Cupcake 

Makes 12 cupcakes

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup sour cream 

Cream Sugar and eggs in a bowl, add sour cream, oil, and vanilla. In a seperate bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  add to creamed sugar mixture and combine. 

I found the recipe for the coconut bun and made the filling. 

Coconut Bun Filling

1 1/3 cups coconut flakes

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted

1 large egg yolk

Process coconut and sugar in blender or food processor until very fine. Turn into small bowl.

Stir in margarine and egg yolk until paste-like consistency. After I filled the cups 1/2 full with the cupcake batter, I made a small ball (like a jawbreaker size) and placed it in the center of each cupcake, depending on how full each cup was after the coconut filling, I put a dollop of additional batter to cover filling if space was available before I placed them in the oven.  Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until center comes out clean with a toothpick.

Coconut and Vanilla Bean Whipped Frosting
1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3 tablespoons cream cheese
5 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup whipped cream
1 tablespoons coconut extract
1/2 canilla bean scraped
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together butter and cream cheese. Add sugar, and beat to combine. Add whipping cream, coconut extract and vanilla bean,  beat until well combined.

The result was not what I was hoping for (I really don't know what I was hoping for). but it was something different. Tony is the coconut contisseur and he said it was very good.  Maybe I am just being over critical of myself.  If you try this cupcake please give me your feed back. Now off to play tennis and get my butt kicked by Tony.