Toasted Coconut Cupcakes

I’m 26 today!!! AH!  I am SO excited for this year. Yes the only thing 26 really means is that I have to get on my own insurance… but I am so incredibly happy and grateful for where my life is right now!  Just got married, have the cutest dog ever, a great job and amazing family and friends.  I also am excited to be on a new workout plan!!  I am doing Kayla Itsines’s Bikini Body Guide and just love it!  It is nice to have a workout plan rather than getting to the gym and trying to make something up! I also am trying to eat as healthy as I can which is why you will see lots of zoodle recipes and other skinnified dinners, but I could never give up my sweet treats.  All about moderation right?!  Well it’s my birthday and i’m eating cake! Cupcakes to be exact.  There is something about toasted coconut that is unlike anything else!

I am also super excited about these because I tried something I have never done before, made my own sized cupcakes holders!  I got theses super cute little cupcake liners for my bridal shower but they were too small to fit normal cupcakes and too big for minis and you can’t cook the batter right in them because the oils would bleed right out.  So I fit some nonstick tin foil in each one and baked them like that!  They didn’t turn out perfectly even but they popped out with ease and then I tossed them back in the liner without the foil.  Any imperfection can be covered in frosting 🙂

Toasted Coconut Cupcakes

See?  It worked out perfectly! Another great thing about this is nothing sticks to the sides of these liners because they are already cooked which makes for the perfect bite!

Toasted Coconut Cupcakes

Cream cheese frosting and toasted coconut.  OH HEY BIRTHDAY!

Toasted Coconut Cupcakes

Don’t worry I took care of all of that extra toasted coconut on the pan… works wonders on greek yogurt!!

Toasted Coconut Cupcakes

Print
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Toasted Coconut Cupcakes


Ingredients

Scale

Cupcake Batter:

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup sugar
  • .75 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 1/3 cups flaked sweetened coconut

Frosting:

  • 6 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
  • 2 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
  • 3/4 cup flaked sweetened coconut, toasted

Instructions

  1. Line muffin cups with paper baking cups (or make your own out of tin foil!) and set aside. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat together the sugar and butter on medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Turn the mixer speed to low, and add the eggs one at a time, beating on medium high 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and almond extract. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  3. Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk alternately to the butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Add in the 1 1/3 cups of coconut. Once it is combined, scoop enough batter into each cupcake liner so it is almost full (these don’t puff up too much during baking). Bake for 22-28 minutes (depending on the size of your tins) until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool.

Frosting:

  1. Combine all frosting ingredients except for the coconut in a mixing bowl and beat until well combined. Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes then sprinkle with toasted coconut!
  2. *note: to make toasted coconut, place coconut on a cookie sheet spread into an even layer and place in an oven with the broiler on high. Stay close as watch as it begins to brown, take out once golden, this stuff burns fast!