Coconut, Lime, and Honey Cupcakes

Happy spring!  It’s been quite a long time.  I feel as if I’ve exhausted a lot of cupcake flavor possibilities, and it is a rare occasion when a new idea pops into my head.  These cupcakes were baked for Easter last Sunday.  Our family has a new addition, my baby nephew Cyrus, and he was a week old on Easter!  Because things were crazy and his mommy and daddy were taking it easy, we had an Easter lunch of sandwiches and salad. Delicious sandwiches and salad.

Due to the lighter lunch, I wanted a nice, not to heavy cupcake to have for dessert.  This was the result!

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Piña Colada Cupcakes

It is summer time!  My school year is almost complete – just two more finals to give to students – and then I will be FREE for a few months.  I have wonderful trips planned to Alaska and Europe, so there will be few cupcake posts this summer (not like there have been many recently).

Anyway, to celebrate the end of the school year, some colleagues and I are throwing a BBQ.  I asked them what flavor cupcake they wanted, and piña colada was the answer.  A good summer cupcake, me thinks.

In fact, these were some of my best in a LONG time.  The cupcake was fluffy and moist (thanks to the crushed pineapple), and I whipped the frosting into a nice consistency.  One of my coworkers, with whom these were shared, described the frosting as being light and yet rich.  Score!

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Coconut Coffee Rum Cupcakes

The cupcakes are so pretty.

I may or may not have a sinus infection.  However, I appear to be getting better (that is, don’t constantly feel like I’m going to fall over and/or vomit).  Hooray!  I have joined the legions complaining about minor (mine is) illness on the internet.  Anyways: cupcakes.

After a fascinating glimpse in the grinding and ill-oiled bureaucratic machinery of a college, a friend of mine has officially graduated.  She likes rum.  She likes coconut.  She likes coffee.  All of these things?  All of them?  They go together REALLY well.

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Garam Masala Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

Why, yes, that is a microwave older than me in the background.

There was a sale on bulk spices earlier this week (the same kind of sale that lead me to buy cocoa nibs that lead to these red velvet cupcakes) and I stocked up.  The only really *new* thing I bought during the sale was garam masala.  Garam masala is actually just the name of a sort of style of spice mix–it can be any combination of a number of different spices.  The kind I bought, however, has a combination of cloves, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, cardamom, and pepper, and maybe a few other things I’m not 100% sure on.

Though I know some people have declared that savory flavors in cupcakes is weird, I like it, and I like it as much as I like sour flavors in cupcakes.  I feel like the savory/sweet and sour/sweet combinations work well because of the contrast, playing counterpoint to each other.

Um.  I don’t suspect anyone really cares to hear me ramble about flavor combinations much longer, so into the recipe we go!

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Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Coconut Cream Cupcakes

BAM. Toasted Coconut.

One of the coolest things about wordpress is the data it gathers.  There is a page that keeps count of page views, links clicked, referrers, other stuff, and one of my favorites: Search Terms.  That is, the phrases and words people google that makes Cupcake Villains appear in their search results page–a hilarious number surround the question of how to use alcohol in cupcakes–and one popped up after Mels last post that immediately seemed like a good idea: Gluten-Free Chocolate Coconut Cream Cupcakes.

I think these might be on the cupcake menu for my friend’s wedding; Gluten-Free, Vegan, and actually really really awesome.

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Coconut Chili Lime Cupcakes

Ignore the sloppily-applied shaved coconut decoration

I suspect that I’m feeling fanciful and antsy because…well, probably because I’m an energetic person who has a hard time focusing when I don’t get out DO incredibly active things every day.  I suspect this is why bicycle commuting works so well for me.

That’s really neither here nor there; what’s actually relevant is that I wanted to do something unexpected.  I had been planning to make Chili Chocolate, and then I realized that would be very similar to Mels’ Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes, and somehow that ended with me telling everything within IMing distance that I was going to make Coconut Chili Lime Cupcakes.

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Coconut Cream Cupcakes

Another flavor request from my mom!  She loves coconut cream pie, and she wanted me to duplicate the flavors in a cupcake.  To do so, I made a traditional vanilla cake batter, but substituted coconut milk for the regular milk.  Additionally, I made a coconut custard to put in the center.  Finally, I topped it off with one of my favorite frostings, stolen from my Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes (minus the spices, of course).  Add a bit of toasted coconut on top, and you have a delicious cupcake!

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Monkey Love! Coconut Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

 

This weekend, I made monkey love!  Yes.  I know.  Let’s move on the from obvious sexual jokes (trust me, I’ve already made all of them) and move onto these delicious delicious cupcakes.

I’m usually really really not a fan of banana in baked goods; it always seems so overpoweringly strong in baked goods that I’m super reluctant to ever use it.

But.

These seemed like a good idea.  Coconut!  Banana! Chocolate!

All good things when mushed together.

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Vegan Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

I took an inadequate number of pictures.

My goodness, I am really behind on life.  Like, really behind.  This is last weekend’s post that I’m just getting to!

Gosh.  Cupcakemakerfail2010.

ANYHOW.  I have an audience for vegan cupcakes, so I’m back to vegan form for another stretch, this time with MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE cupcakes.  I mean, I also had half of a can of coconut milk that needed a home in a baked good, so that totally worked out for me.

I modified the recipe to fit the ingredients on hand, and they turned out to be remarkably delightful.

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Vegan Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes with Coffee Coconut Buttercream Frosting

Ain't it pretty?

Two things of note: I had a job interview, and I have recently discovered the wonder and joy of Coconut in it’s myriad forms.

Previously, coconut had been almost entirely experienced as dried chewy chunks from the baking aisle that had been sprinkled onto sugar cookies, and I didn’t know that coconut could be AMAZING.

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