Despite being one of the hottest days in a little while, today I made these amazing cupcakes. They are coconut & raspberry inside with cheesecake frosting, toasted coconut and fresh strawberries on the outside (can you believe no one in newtown sells raspberries anymore?).

As you can see, they did turn a little melty when I was trying to pipe the raspberry jam-infused frosting onto them, but they taste like heaven and go pretty solid in the fridge, so it’s all good!

I got the recipe for these from this great book I got on the weekend (with a little alteration on my behalf). I was pretty excited to finally go to The Essential Ingredient in Roselle (it’s just moved from Crows Nest, incase, like us, you turn up to an vacant shop front) and this book was something I couldn’t resist. The recipes are super easy and the photos are so cute.

I also picked up a jar of this amazing vanilla paste, which is so good in frosting and cheesecakes (two of my favourite things). And it’s also well worth the money as a little goes a long way, they say a teaspoon in equal to an entire vanilla pod! Mmm. Kx