I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconut Cupcakes

Well, now I have three. I HAD a lovely bunch of coconut cupcakes last night, before a bunch of people ate them. Now, I have three. And they are lovely. You'll have to trust me this time, because I didn't bother to snap a picture, but they turned out very cute, indeed.

I have to say, these cupcakes did not come off without a hitch. You see, since watching a late-night cooking show early last week, I have been craving coconut cupcakes. It just never seemed to be the right time to make them, until yesterday.

The night before last, I couldn't sleep ~ not a wink! So, around 5:00 a.m., I gave up, got out of bed and tiptoed out to the kitchen to (finally!) make coconut cupcakes. I decided to adapt the great vegan vanilla cupcake recipe I had discovered online a couple of months ago. How hard could it be?

Hard. I used coconut milk beverage, which I had used when making the vanilla cupcakes, and added coconut flavouring instead of the 1/4 tsp. almond or vanilla extract (in addition to the usual vanilla extract) recommended in the original recipe. I don't think either of those things was the problem. I also opted to use margarine instead of oil (which I had always used before in the recipe). Now, this was presented in the original recipe as an option, so that might not have been the problem, either. Honestly, I think the problem was loud, rumbly, low-flying aircraft. There seemed to be an abundance of loud, rumbly, low-flying aircraft at that particular time. At any rate, my sad little cupcakes fell. I let them cool, thinking maybe they weren't as bad as they looked. Upon tasting, we determined they were, indeed that bad.

At first, I wasn't really feeling like washing up all of the dishes and starting over, but, as the day wore on, I decided I really wanted those coconut cupcakes. After all, I had been craving them for more than a week. So, I went online and found what sounded like a good recipe. I figured, if it flopped again, I'd give up...for the day, anyway.

Now, I think the only thing I did differently than the original recipe was to add coconut flavour (Frontier Natural Products Co-op Coconut Flavor, to be precise). Here's what I did, along with a link to the original recipe:

Vegan Coconut Cupcakes

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup coconut milk (actual coconut milk, not coconut milk beverage)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut flavouring
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Fill cupcake pan with liners. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, coconut, baking soda, and salt. Add in the rest of the ingredients, adding the vinegar last. Stir until well combined.

2. Pour into cupcake liners and bake 30 minutes or until centers come out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

3. Frost with your favorite vegan buttercream frosting. Decorate with freshly toasted coconut.

Here's the link: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=22157.0

I made a vegan coconut buttercream frosting, like this:

1/2 cup Spectrum Organic Butter Flavor Shortening
3 TBS coconut milk (regular, not "light")
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. coconut flavouring
2 dashes salt
2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup shredded coconut

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, cream shortening, coconut milk, vanilla, coconut flavouring, and salt until smooth and well-combined. Add sugar, a little at a time, mixing well after each addition, until desired consistency is reached. Gently stir in coconut or, if preferred, sprinkle shredded coconut on top of cupcakes after they are frosted, instead of mixing it in.

I mixed in the coconut and put colorful sprinkles on top, but I thought they would be nice topped with finely shredded dark chocolate, or even finely chopped dried pineapple, too.

Notes:
In both recipes, I used unsweetened shredded coconut, which is hard to find. I got mine at Whole Foods Market. If you can only find sweetened coconut, go ahead and use it. If you are concerned about your cupcakes being too sweet, you can reduce the sugar a bit, but I don't think it will be a problem, as one of the things we really enjoyed about these cakes was that they were not overly sweet.

I am sure you could substitute your favourite vegan margarine or even plain shortening for the butter flavor shortening, but I really like the flavour it gives the frosting. Just play around with it until you find what works for you.

These cupcakes are even better the next day. They just seem moister and more coconut-y. I highly recommend making them a day before you plan to eat them, and storing in an airtight container overnight. Enjoy!