Coconut Marshmallows from the amazing Butter Baked Goods!!

When we moved to Vancouver I was so excited about all the potential baked goods the city had to offer! I had visions of gorgeous little cupcakeries on every block and gourmet treats around every corner! The reality was not so great.  I tried so many mediocre cupcakes and went to many different establishments that came highly recommended but Vancouver was still lacking in impressing me treat wise! Then a very lovely friend recommended Butter Baked Goods to me and the day I stepped through their beautiful pastel doors I knew I'd found what I was searching for! 

From sky high chocolate peanut butter layer cakes to toasted marshmallow s'mores bars, pineapple coconut scones to bars loaded with chocolate, pecans, coconut and dulce de leche (otherwise known as the Dunbar!) and of course their homemade marshmallows were the icing on the top! I'm not sure I'd ever had a homemade marshmallow before I tried Butter's...and I've tried many since but none have compared! From passionfruit to gingerbread to maple to toasted coconut there were so many flavours to choose from...in fact at the last count they had 18 flavours but I'm sure they've dreamt up many more since! 

Of course we were heartbroken to leave Vancouver, and I was heartbroken to leave Butter behind! So imagine my excitement when on the morning my baby was born my husband presented me with a push present and it just so happened to be Butter Baked Good's recipe book! He is a keeper that's for sure! It is one of the most beautiful recipe books you will ever own, and I have spent months and months staring at those beautiful pages wondering what to make first!

Naturally, it had to be their marshmallows!

So I tentatively whipped up my first batch...waiting for that liquid sugar to magically turn into white fluff and it didn't! I think it was because I used some gelatin leaf so undeterred I tried again with powdered gelatin this time and did a little happy dance as the marshmallow fluffed up!

They are actually so much easier than I ever thought they would be to make! and now I've conquered them once I'm already dreaming up all the flavours I'll be making in the future! and the taste, oh the taste! they are soft and pillowy and creamy and delicious and everything you expect from an amazing marshmallow!

They are great in hot chocolates, and melt even better than shop bought marshmallows! 

and I also dipped some in chocolate and then in coconut for the dessert table we had for my 1 year old's birthday (which I'll be blogging about soon!) and I threw them in some coconut rocky road which will be appearing on the blog over the next few weeks too!

Butter's Famous Marshmallows - Coconut:

Makes 64 1x1 inch or 32 2x2 inch (which is the size I made in the pictures)

Adapted from Butter Baked Goods

1 cup cold water, divided

3 sachets powdered gelatin (I use Dr Oetker's that are 12g per sachet)

337g caster sugar

350g golden syrup (or corn syrup)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp coconut extract

2 cups icing sugar, to coat the marshmallows

Prepare a 30x18cm baking pan with a sheet of clingfilm, greased lightly with butter

In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment pour in 1/2 cup of the water and sprinkle with the gelatin.  Set aside and let the gelatin soak in.

In a medium saucepan, over high heat, add the sugar, syrup, salt and remaining 1/2 cup of water.  Bring to a rolling boil and continue to boil until a sugar thermometer reaches 237 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove from heat.

Turn on your mixer a few times to break your gelatin and water combo up.    Turn your mixer to low, and slowly add the hot sugar mixture to the bowl, and continue to mix on low.  Make sure you pour the hot sugar mixture down the side of the bowl and that it doesn't touch the whisk attachment if possible.

Turn the mixer to high and continue to whip for 8-10 minutes until the marshmallow batter almost triples in size and becomes very thick.   Stop the mixer, add the coconut extract (or just vanilla extract if you are making plain marshmallows), and then whip briefly to combine.  

Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking pan and use a spatula to spread it evenly into the pan.  Work quickly because the marshmallow becomes more difficult to work with as it sets.  

Put a layer of tin foil across the top of your pan loosely, I make mine create an arch shape so that it definitely won't touch and stick to any of the mallow in the pan.  

Leave the marshmallow, at room temperature, to set for at least 4 hours or overnight.  The marshmallow will be too sticky and soft if you cut it too soon.

Sprinkle a work surface or cutting board with the icing sugar.  Run a knife along the top edge of the pan to loosen the marshmallow slab.  Invert the pan and flip the marshmallow out onto the counter or board.  Scoop up handfuls of icing sugar and rub all over the marshmallow slab.

Use a large knife to cut the slab into 1x1 inch squares or 2x2 inch squares if you want larger ones like I did.  Roll each of the freshly cut marshmallow squares in the remaining icing sugar to coat them completely.  

Store in an airtight container.

Eat and enjoy!!

Vancouver's Best Cupcake & Bakery Offerings!

 

So, we are now more than halfway through our time in Vancouver! It's crazy to think that we have been here this long...and that the rain still hasn't gone away yet! Everyone warned me before I left that it rains a lot in Vancouver, and I was like 'yeah, yeah I know'.  Kind of like that time when I spent a year studying in Scotland and before I left everyone told me Scottish people hate English people and I was all like 'yeah, yeah so I've heard' and then I got there and they really did! and so it has been with Vancouver...I was anticipating rain, but this much rain I could never have comprehended!! I swear I will never complain about the rain in England when I return because it will be nothing compared to what I've experienced here!! 

Anyway rainy ramblings aside, I thought it was time to do a round up of all the sweet treats I've been enjoying on the west coast! Vancouver has surprised me in that I thought they would have tons of awesome cupcake bakeries, but really they don't.  

In my first week here I ventured to Cupcakes, which is perhaps the most famous and one of the only sole cupcake bakeries in Van city.  The two owners even have their own T.V show that I had watched a couple of times on sky back in the UK so I was pretty excited about trying their cupcakes!

In my opinion, they're pretty standard.  Standard flavours, standard decorations and really not very exciting at all! I hate cupcakes that only have frosting on top with no other edible decorations.  We tried this chocolate cupcake with pink coloured vanilla frosting and it was just okay for me.

A few weeks later we stumbled upon them at the night market and so I decided to give them another shot.  I went with their coconut cupcake with cream cheese frosting, topped with shredded coconut.  

I couldn't taste any coconut flavour which as a coconut obsessive was pretty disappointing! (and yes I am wearing my American flag tee...in Canada, what can I say!)

The only other dedicated cupcakery that I know of in the city is called Cassia Cupcakery.  One night, I knew my husband would be venturing to that side of the city so I hinted heavily that if he should stumble past that cupcake shop he should go inside and buy us some! Unfortunately I wish he hadn't wasted his money.  He brought us home a peanut butter cupcake and a 'strawberry cheesecake' cupcake.  

My strawberry cheesecake cupcake was vanilla cupcake with a scraping of cheesecake mix on top of the cupcake and then some pink frosting swirled on top.  None of it tasted like strawberry and I would have expected at least a cheesecake filling or a cheesecake topping, not just a scraping of it across the top! It was a pretty weird cupcake that I didn't end up finishing.  We had to throw my husbands away because the peanut butter frosting was so weird! We both took a bit and were looking at each other like 'what is this!'.  It confuses me how people can have a sole business dedicated to cupcakes and yet they sell creations that aren't even edible! 

So things were looking pretty bad on the cupcake side of things here in the city! and then I read online about this cute little place called Butter Baked Goods.  Again, it's pretty far away from where we live and without a car sometimes making 3 different bus trips seems extreme.  So when we hired a car to pick up our Christmas tree, I worked out if we were very quick we could make a detour to this bakery and still get our hire car back on time.

As soon as I stepped through the doors, I let out a squeal of excitement...this was exactly the kind of bakery I'd been looking for! Excuse the poor quality phone pics! but I was met with rows of freshly baked cupcakes, layer cakes, brownies in assorted flavours, campfire bars, mini lemon meringue pies, homemade s'mores, homemade marshmallows and just counters full of deliciousness! 

There was sooo much to choose from! I went with their coconut brownie, of course, and it was sooo delicious!

A few weeks later my husband brought me one of their chocolate and peppermint candy cane cupcakes which was the best Vancouver cupcake I've had so far! I have a week off work next week because of spring break and you can bet I will be making that 3 ride bus trip to Butter Baked Goods!

Whilst Vancouver hasn't quite lived up to my expectations on the cupcake side of things, there are still plenty of other delish treats! My absolute favourite find in Vancouver is Lucky's Doughnuts, found inside Parallel 49th Cafe...

I got taken here in the first week we arrived! and was met with this cabinet of excitement...

Of course I had to go for the coconut cream pie flavour! I'm pretty sure it was the yummiest doughnut to ever pass my lips! and since then I have tried their mango doughnut which is filled with a mango curd and covered in a mango glaze...it is equally as amazing!

The last time I went there they were pretty thin on the ground with their flavours so I picked up this lemon bismark.  Again, it was one of the best doughnuts I've ever eaten - they can do no wrong! 

I'm also in love with their beautiful turquoise crockery! 

For the best pie in Vancouver...you need to head to Aphrodite's, an organic pie cafe out in Kitsilano! I was expecting a delish piece of pie, I was not expecting the biggest piece of the most over the top pie I've ever seen in my life....

That right there is a slice of chocolate raspberry cream pie! and is the best pie I have ever eaten! It didn't come cheap at $9.25 for one slice but it fed me for 3 days in a row so I'd say it was worth it! 

We also found the biggest cookies I've ever seen in my life in Whistler at a little coffee shop called Mogul's.  I got the raspberry oatmeal flavour, and it was seriously tasty! 

The other sweet treat you can't miss out on when you go to Whistler is a beavertail! 

Our favourite flavour is the one smothered in chocolate, peanut butter and reese's pieces! It's like a baked pastry spiced with cinnamon and it is sooo delicious, and hits the spot on a cold snowy day! 

Last time we also tried the warm cinnamon apple flavour.  I can't recommend these pastries enough!

If you follow my blog, you'll know of my love for s'mores! so when I found out that this chocolate cafe downtown called Mink did a s'mores fondue I was there like a bear!

It was super fun! They brought this cute little tray to our table, and we were able to toast our own marshmallows over this little burner.

and then dip them in the oh so tasty melted chocolate and make up your own little s'mores using the graham crackers provided! 

It was the perfect way to spend a chilly rainy afternoon! 

I realise this blog post is getting a little long, so I'll leave you with one more cupcakery and probably my favourite one in B.C so far.  It's in a little fishing village called Steveston, about 30 minutes away from Vancouver itself and it's called Bell's Bakeshop.

The reason I knew it was going to be a great cupcakery was because the owner used to work at Angel Food Bakery in Brighton before opening up her own cupcakery over here.  Angel Food is one of my fave U.K bakeries! so I knew before we had even arrived that the cupcakes were going to be good!

We were met with cabinets full of tasty looking cupcakes! 

I, of course had my eye on the Oreo crumb covered one!

Although, this malteser layer cake was rather tempting too! 

Byron went for the chocolate peanut butter combo, complete with the dreamiest peanut butter frosting and reese's pieces to finish it off! It was everything a cupcake should be! 

My Oreo cupcake had big chunks of Oreo throughout the vanilla cupcake and then it was covered with a creamy frosting, surrounded with Oreo crumbs and a mini Oreo on top! I was in cupcake heaven! and was happy that I'd finally found a good cupcakery in B.C! If only it wasn't so far from my house! It took us 2 buses and a skytrain and journey time of over an hour! but I'm sure we'll be back, the cupcakes will be calling my name! 

So that's my little roundup...if you ever find yourself in Vancouver and are in need of a sweet treat hopefully this will help you out and if you know of any places I've missed please let me know!