I don't know what it is about coconut and cupcakes that makes everyone crazy but these are simply the most divine cupcakes anywhere. The cream cheese frosting, the coconut, the almost obscene amount of butter...heavenly!
Coconut Cupcakes
(adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook)
1 and 1/2 cups butter, room temperature (3 sticks)
2 cups sugar
5 extra large eggs (or 6 large) brought to room temperature*
1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 bag (14 ounces) of sweetened shredded coconut, divided
Cream Cheese Icing (recipe follows)
-Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
-Grease the top of two 12 cup cupcake tins (this will help you remove your cupcakes after they bake, otherwise it'll be messy!) and line with 24 paper cupcake liners.
-In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
-Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each.
-Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts.
-In a seperate bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
-In three parts alternate adding the flour and buttermilk to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix until just blended. Don't overmix!
-Fold in 3 cups of the coconut. Set aside the rest to top the cupcakes with later.
-Fill each cupcake cup to the top with batter. (Using an ice cream scoop makes this really fast and easy.)
-Bake for 25-35 minutes until the tops begin to brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
-Remove from oven and let cool in the tins for 15 minutes. You will probably need to cut the cupcakes apart to seperate them since they'll rise over the top of the pan and spread--do this while they're in the pan.
-Remove cupcakes and cool completely on cooling racks.
-Frost generously with cream cheese icing and sprinkle with remaining coconut (press down lightly to keep coconut from falling off).
Makes 24 cupcakes
Cream Cheese Icing
8 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup butter, room temperature (1 and 1/2 sticks)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups powdered sugar
-Make sure your cream cheese and butter are at room temperature to avoid lumps in your frosting.
-Put the cream cheese, butter and extracts in a mixing bowl. Blend together until creamy.
-Blend in the powdered sugar until smooth and fluffy.
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Tips!
* Bringing your eggs to room temperature before using them in a recipe will give your baked goods greater volume (read: light and fluffy!). An easy way to bring them to room temperature quickly is to submerge your eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.
*An easy way to bring your cream cheese and butter to room temperature for the icing is to put them in the mixing bowl when you start to make your cupcakes and set them somewhere out of the way. By the time the cupcakes are baked and you're ready to make your icing, the butter and cream cheese should be ready to mix. I put the extracts in the bowl at the same time so all I need to do is mix them up and add the powdered sugar.
* If you are using imitation vanilla extract as opposed to pure vanilla extract you will need to use twice as much in your recipe because it's not as strong as pure vanilla. The difference is that imitation vanilla is just vanilla flavored alcohol, while pure vanilla extract is alcohol that has had real vanilla beans soaking in it, so it's much stronger in flavor. It may cost more, but the flavor is much more intense and real than the imitation vanilla. You'll notice when you bake that you can smell vanilla everywhere when you use it. It's wonderful!
You can make your own vanilla extract if you have a bottle of vodka and a dozen vanilla beans laying around (put the beans in the vodka and let them marinate for a month) but I can't imagine a situation where I'd have either one of these ingredients in my pantry on a regular day...*hic!*
P.S. Don't drink vanilla extract (or orange or peppermint) no matter how good it smells. It's yucky.
