I’m sure that pumpkin spice flavored everything is about to start rolling out at any moment now, but right now I’m taking the time to enjoy more tropical, summery flavors. I’m currently obsessed with fresh fruit, pineapple upside-down cake, and, especially, coconut. Particularly in the form of these easy coconut cupcakes. For this recipe, I use coconut milk in the actual cupcakes, as well as in the frosting. A small amount of coconut extract is added for the strongest coconut flavor, and everything is topped off with shredded coconut. I prefer mine slightly toasted for a slight texture crunch against the creamy frosting and soft fluffy cupcake.
These coconut cupcakes have quickly become one of my new favorite cupcakes (right next to my chocolate cupcakes or even lemon zucchini cupcakes). You can use a white or vanilla box mix if you are in a rush, but be sure to add a half teaspoon of coconut extract into the batter before portioning it into your cupcake tins. If you’re not in a rush, I highly recommend following my recipe for from-scratch coconut cupcake bases – it calls for coconut milk mixed with lemon juice, which serves nearly the same function as buttermilk and helps to make the cupcake bases extra light and fluffy.
If you are making your coconut cupcakes completely from scratch, do make sure to use all room-temperature ingredients and do not over-mix your ingredients – I always fold the wet ingredients into the dry by hand using a spatula rather than an electric mixer to ensure that they are not over-mixed, otherwise they may come out too dense or dry after baking. When baking, make sure not to over-bake – when testing for doneness, insert a toothpick in the center. It should come out with a few moist crumbs once the coconut cupcakes are finished baking. Make them and let me know what you think! More Recipes You’ll Love! © SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here. Coconut Cream Bars
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