Snowy Coconut Cupcake Forests

I love coconut however it’s not something anyone else in my family really likes so I don’t often bake with it. But since I moved out, I enjoy getting the opportunity to be experimental in the kitchen. These cupcakes are actually my first time using coconut milk. I knew I was supposed to shake the can before opening up the coconut milk, but I was still slightly horrified to discover the thick layer of congealed coconut oil on the surface of the coconut milk, however a quick whisk brought everything back together.

Theses cupcakes are good! The raw batter was velvety smooth though flecked with the shreds of coconut. It was also liberally flavoured with vanilla and came together in under an hour.
The cupcakes took longer to bake than stated in the original instructions but they rose into perfect little domes and left my apartment fragrant with the aroma of coconut and vanilla. The original recipe also was supposed to make about 20 cupcakes, But my batch only yielded fourteen which was more than enough for me since I made relatively tall cupcakes.

The naked cupcakes were a nice pale yellow cake. I found them dense, yet moist, tender and fluffy, like the texture of a pound cake. The taste reminded me of those toasted coconut donuts you can sometimes get at coffee shops. But the coconut cream cheese frosting really made these cupcakes decadent.
This frosting was my second attempt at a cream cheese frosting, it was not too sweet, and offered a tangy complement to the sweetened toasted coconut.
Rather than pipe on the frosting, I spread it on and then dipped the cupcakes in lightly toasted coconut to create tasty off-white snowballs
And since these little cakes reminded me of a snowy landscape so they are completed with the addition of those plastic deer cupcake toppers, because forest creatures love cupcakes too.
I love how some of these photos resemble landscapes.


the recipe:

Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Dairy
Makes 14-20 cupcakes, depending on how full the muffin tins are.
Time: about 1-1/2 hours for the batter

Cupcakes
• ¾ cup butter
• 1-1/4 cups sugar
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ cup sweetened shredded coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place paper muffin liners in muffin pans.
2. Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy, scraping sides of mixer to incorporate. Add eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition.
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, mix together the coconut milk and the vanilla.
4. Add a third of the dry ingredient into the egg mixture, then half of the coconut milk mixture. Continue alternating wet and dry ingredients, ending with the dry. Stop mixing just as ingredients become incorporated. Do not overbeat.
5. Gently fold in shredded coconut. Scoop into cupcake liners, about 2/3 thirds full. Bake 18-22 minutes, rotating pan after first 15 minutes to ensure even baking. Cupcakes are done when tooth pick inserted in centre comes out clean and the cakes spring back when lightly pressed. Let the cupcakes cool for a minute or two in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 oz cream cheese
• ½ cup butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups icing sugar

Cream together cream cheese and butter. Add vanilla. Sift in the icing sugar, and beat to combine.

Assembly:

1. Spread a layer of cream cheese frosting on the cooled cupcakes and dipped into a bowl of toasted coconut.

Cupcake recipe from: Halifax Chronicle Herald Sept 17 2008
Cream cheese icing from: Canadian Home and Country Spring 2008