Coconut Cream Cupcakes - Light & Refreshing for Summer!

Hey friends! We celebrated another birthday at work last week and it was delicious! To say that the birthday girl LOVES coconut would be an understatement. She adores it. She talks about it all the time. In fact, everything she got that day had something to do with the stuff. Her husband started her day off with her favorite coconut candy. She got to work where I had coconut creamer for her coffee. Then, of course, the special cupcakes I made for her were....yep, Coconut Cream cupcakes with a pineapple and coconut cream filling. We also had vanilla ice cream and crushed pineapple to go on top.

The recipe comes from a cake we used to make at a bakery I ran in Georgia. I have never been much of a coconut fan myself. I like it fine, but it's not usually something I would pick when given a choice. However, this cake is so light and delicious that it has made a coconut lover out of me. The secret to this cake is coconut creamer from CoffeeMate and I have only ever been able to find it at Walmart - don't ask me why. No idea why other stores don't carry it. But, trust me. Save yourself the time and frustration looking for it at other places and just go straight to Walmart. Anyway, back to the cupcakes....

I wanted to do these a little differently to make them more special for the birthday party. I pulled the liners off the cooled cupcakes and cut them in half horizontally. I then put a heaping tablespoonful of the filling on the bottom layer, cut a whole out of the middle of the top layer, placed it on the filling, and then filled the hole with crushed pineapple for an extra layer of flavor. Pineapple and coconut - such a classic summer flavor combination! I piped the coconut whipped cream on top of the whole thing. The cupcakes look like mini layered cakes and everyone really loved them!


Coconut Cake:

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 1/2 cups AP flour
3 t baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup Coffee Mate coconut creamer
2 t vanilla extract

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Combine dry ingredients and add alternately with milk and creamer. Add vanilla last and stir until combined.

Bake at 350 degrees until lightly golden brown and toothpick inserted in middle of cupcakes comes out clean.

Triple Chocolate and German Chocolate Cupcakes

Ok, first a few personal things. A lot of you know this but for those that don't I want to let you know that my sweet dog, Buddy (see pic with the last post), lost his fight with an autoimmune disorder last Saturday. It has been a very rough few weeks at our house and we miss him so very much! You don't really understand the impression they make on your hearts and in your lives until they're gone and, boy, is this hard! He was an 8 yr old miniature Dachshund, with a personality bigger than life and we loved him more than words can say. All the prayers and outpouring of love is appreciated more than you could ever know! I'm still grieving and crying at random moments when something catches me off guard or a thought/memory runs through my mind, but I'm ready to get my mind on some baking and hoping that cupcakes will help the healing process. Second, my dad's birthday is this weekend so, while I promised raspberries and lemon, we're first going to take a detour down chocolate lane for him!

Dad's favorite cake is German Chocolate. Over the years I have scoured the cookbooks, searched online, and asked friends for their recipes. Well, I'm happy to say that last year I found it! My German Chocolate cake go-to recipe. This one is definitely not mine but I'm so pleased with it that I don't feel the need to tweak it. The cake is light and moist and the icing - delish! Now, in my picky family, my dad, brother-in-law, and I are the only ones who really like the traditional coconut pecan icing so for everyone else, I made a Triple Chocolate Cupcake - German chocolate cake, milk chocolate ganache, and white chocolate buttercream. Sounds good, right? I know...chocolate overload. But, for chocoholics like us, heaven!

I love the word ganache. People hear it and automatically think gourmet, fru-fru, upscale, hoity-toity... Little do they know, ganache simply means I melted chocolate with some warm cream and, voila! It's ok though. If someone wants to think I spent hours because of a fancy word, I'll let them! The white chocolate buttercream icing I use is a Wilton recipe and, let me tell you, it's probably the best thing I've EVER put in my mouth. Seriously. My mom, the world's pickiest eater, who prefers boxed cake mixes and icing from a can, can't stop eating it by the spoonful. If you haven't made this icing yet, you MUST. I mean it. Right now. Stop what you're doing and go! It's that good.

The review -- I'm not gonna lie; these cupcakes are divine! Chocoholics beware: you will be addicted. The sounds coming from my family while eating these tell me that I have another success on my hands. The birthday boy was oh so excited to see the coconut pecan icing on the stove today and when he tasted it, he said the only thing missing was a cup of coffee. Yum-my! Now, the links to these recipes are included so you be the judge. Once again, happy reading and, most importantly, happy cupcake-ing!!