Challenge #10: Going Nuts For Coconut

Remember when I made those pineapple cupcakes for that small dinner party I had? Well this past weekend, there was a surprise party for one of those guests. Because my cupcakes have always gone over well at things like parties and I get lots of great feedback, I decided to break out The Icing On The Cupcake and try another challenge. This time Going Nuts For Coconut aka coconut cupcakes.

3/4 pound (or 3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

5 eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp coconut extract

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp potato starch (corn starch)

1/2 tsp finely ground salt

1 cup coconut milk

14 oz sweetened, shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 325'. Place 24 paper liners in cupcake tray.

Cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat another 2 minutes.

Add vanilla and coconut extracts. Whisk flour, potato starch, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Alternating the flour mixture and coconut milk, add them to batter. Start and end with the flour mixture.

Can I just say that coconut milk might be my new favorite thing ever? Seriously, mix some into a glass of milk! Yummy!

Fold in coconut.

Pour batter into paper liners. Fill 3/4 of the way to the top. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes and then place on a baking rack.

American Buttercream

3/4 pound (or 3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 pound of cream cheese, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp coconut extract

1 1/2 pounds (3 cups) icing sugar, sifted

Cream butter, cream cheese and extracts together with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. 

(Figure out how many cups make up a pound by changing pounds into oz and oz into tsp and then tsp into cups. Them congratulate yourself for still being good at math)

Add the sugar and mix until smooth.

 

 

 Frost cupcakes

You may notice that the icing is really white. I added White-White Icing Colour to really brighten up the cupcakes. Just mix it into the icing like you would any food colouring for instant results.

I'm not a huge fan of coconut, but these might be my new favorite recipe. The cupcakes are light and fluffy and the coconut is very understated. The American Buttercream icing is to die for! It's not quite as sweet as a regular buttercream and not as dense as a regular cream cheese frosting, plus the coconut flavour is fantastic!

Usually when I take cupcakes to a party there are at least a few cupcakes left over at the end of the night; not so with these. People didn't eat just one, some had multiple! They were that good. People kept coming up to me all night and telling me how great they were! YAY!

I will totally make these again in the future.