Celebratory Coconut Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
We’re almost finished with the harvesting and we’re almost done with the preserving and putting up, too, and believe me, that means it’s time to celebrate a bit! Or–a lot!
Today little Mack and Amalia and I will tear down the garden proper and clean up the hoop house a bit, too. We’ve canned tomatoes and salsa and grape juice and we’ve put containers of roasted tomato sauce and ratatouille into the freezer for hearty winter meals. We’ve done lots more, too. We’ve socked away carrots and winter radishes and turnips and winter apples in our root-cellar-cum-corner-of-Bryan’s-shop and we’ll have fun cooking with them all winter long. We’ve raised some meat chickens and they’re safely tucked into the freezer, along with the skinny old hens which will be the basis for lots of nourishing pots of soup.
I’ve still got a couple of preserving tasks to do yet: I want to make applesauce with a couple of buckets of apples that were given to me, and I have yet to make escabeche from my piles of extra jalapenos. My friend Chef William, who has recently moved to Mexico and writes an awesome blog about his experiences and recipes, has shared with me how to do this, and I’m looking forward to making it.
But I don’t think celebratory cupcakes are a bit premature, do you? We have lots to celebrate, and what better way than with something that looks like this?
You know that I’ve been experimenting with Virgin Coconut Oil, and I can assure you that I love using it in cooking. Also baking. Actually I’ve not found anything that I don’t like it in, from stir-fry to fried eggs to my bulletproof coffee. It’s a great addition to my kitchen, and to our healthy diet!
Here’s where I like to buy it:
And here’s your recipe!
- For the cupcakes:
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking power
- 1/2 t salt
- 3 egg whites
- 3/4 cup coconut milk or whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup Virgin Coconut Oil
- 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
- And for the frosting:
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 1/2 cup Virgin Coconut Oil
- 2 oz. white chocolate, melted
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- Top cupcakes with:
- 1 1/2 cups shredded coconut, sweetened or not, your choice!
- Preheat oven to 350 and prepare muffin tin with cupcake papers or spray oil.
- Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt for cupcakes.
- Combine egg whites, coconut milk, and extracts in a measuring cup.
- Cream sugar and coconut oil with an electric mixer until creamy, about 4 min.
- Alternatively add dry and wet ingredients in 3 additions, ending with drys.
- Fold in coconut using a rubber spatula.
- Scoop batter into prepared tins, filling each about 3/4 full.
- Bake until toothpick comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Cool in pan 5 minutes; remove and cool completely on wire rack.
- For frosting: beat cream cheese and coconut oil with an electric mixer until smooth; add melted white choc and lime juice; beat to blend. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth (it will be a bit gooey). Spread about 3 Tb frosting on each cupcake; top cupcakes with shredded coconut. Now it’s time to celebrate!
I’m sharing this post with The Prairie Homestead Blog Hop, and also the Blog Hop over at Frugally Sustainable. Come on over for a visit!
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These look gorgeous. Do they put on weight? 🙂
Carol, well, if you eat the entire batch, they will! Here’s an idea: make the whole batch, but then invite some family or friends over to eat them with you. Then, you’ll only get one or two and NO they won’t cause weight gain!
They sure do look wonderful. Perhaps I can add them to our Thanksgiving diner. We are planning a “Great American Thanksgiving Feast” here in Mexico to share with family and friends. We will be using special recipes to wow them and this looks like it would add to the fun. I will of course need to make a test batch in the middle of the night just to make sure I have it right. Then it will be my job to eat the them before they are discovered..oh the plight of a chef.
You’ve got it rough, Chef, it’s true . . . just be sure to clean up all the little coconut shreds before Maria wakes up! 😉
Pinned this for when I reach my goal weight – those last 10 lb are quite stubborn. Now I’ll be craving coconut.
Mmm, mmm, me too, Alana! Good luck with those last ten pounds!
How cool that you are celebrating your harvest!! Looks yummy. 🙂
Thanks Anna!
Hi Drama Mama. These look yummy. I love coconut and cake.
I so enjoyed reading about your activities. My husband and I moved to the Missouri Ozarks in 1980 so we could provide more to ourselves. With our daughter, we raised chickens and rabbits, planted fruit trees, and had a huge garden. I butchered, canned, froze, and dehydrated so much food. I don’t do as much now, but it’s a great way to live. Thanks for sharing.
All the best,
Leslie
Thanks Leslie. I agree. I love my life—most days! 😉
Oh I’m so happy you came by my place so that I could return the visit! These look soooo yummy! And I love that they’re made with white chocolate. My sis and I bake a lot and she’s allergic to chocolate so we usually substitute with white chocolate or carob. She will be so happy when I send this link to her. 🙂 Your life sounds very much like ours, minus all the kids, ours are grown and on their own, well, her husband is still around so I guess he counts as the biggest kid. 😉 But we too spend most of our time outdoors, gardening, working in the saw mill, raising chickens n’ cows and this coming year, sheep. I read your “About Me” section and I thought, wow, we would be such great neighbors! 🙂
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I can’t wait to try it out! 😀
Mimi,
We could be neighbors through our ‘pooters! I’d love to hear more about your life, I agree that we really ought to be neighbors!
Well, I cannot sleep so the first thing I see when I switch my macbook on are these little beauties. They look delicious and a totally fitting celebration to the end of your harvesting. YUM.
Anita-Clare, make a batch and let me know what you think!
All I could think when I was reading the recipe was ‘oh my lordy, my wordy, my lordy’. Due to the drool running down my chin. Your homeland life is one I am very much enjoying.
Amanda, I hope you try it and enjoy it! It’s one of our favorite recipes!
I stay well clear of eating anything sweet, but these look wonderful. I don’t know where your energy comes from. You do so much. Here I sit, stuck to the computer, without enough time to use up the milk that’s about to go off. I HAD considered making pancakes, but I still need to write, write, write. 😉
Well, Francene, I do most of my writing in the very-early morning hours, before everybody wakes up around here. Then, it’s anybody’s guess if I’ll get back to it before tomorrow, or not!