Coconut cupcakes with cream cheese frosting
So! Sorry family (New Englanders, all) but that was some game last night. I couldn’t help rooting for NY, they played so hard.
The only treat I made for the game was a batch of Ina Garten’s Coconut Cupcakes.
The cream cheese frosting came out like silk. But I really need to work on my cup-filling technique. Every one of them overflowed and stuck to the edge of the (nonstick!) mini muffin tin. Ina calls for coconut to top the frosting with, but I’m not a huge fan of the chewy coconut unless it’s fresh, so I toasted about a cup of coconut in my cast iron skillet in the oven while it preheated.
This recipe uses buttermilk, and a metric ton of butter which converts to an assload. I mean, I may as well just stuff these babies down the back of my undies, they’re that buttery. I’m going to try making them with coconut milk instead of buttermilk next time. (Oh, yes. There will be a next time. But I will try to wait a few months before I carb load like that again.) I used to make an incredible layer cake using fresh grated coconut and coconut milk and it may have been the lightest, moistest, most delicious cake I ever had. It would translate to cupcakes so well.
And so I stayed up way past my bedtime to watch the Superbowl, ate two cupcakes and now have an early morning belly ache. But there’s no time for complaining—I’ve got to get the kids up and get us all out the door in 40 minutes. Peace out!
"Grass is the cheapest plant to install and the most expensive to maintain."
~Pat Howell
February 4th, 2008 at 6:57 am
Wasn’t it kind of epic? First I was thinking, see, the Pats were destined to lose; and then, see, the Pats were destined, yet again, to pull it off at the last minute; and then, nope, it’s all about the hubris…
February 4th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Those cupcakes look delicious … even if it is early in the morning, these look delicious.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Those cupcakes sound so good. And look good. This is why I can’t allow myself to bake often.
The superbowl was yesterday?
Uh, we may be the only family in the US who don’t watch sports.
February 4th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Mmmm, cupcakes. I thought about baking yesterday, but I knit instead. It was fun to watch the big football upset, wasn’t it?
February 4th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
damn woman, ya tryin to kill me over here???
(oh lord, how i remember that coconut cake of yours. i still dream of diving into large vats of it and eating my way out 
umm, yeah 
February 4th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
violet told us yesterday, pre-game, that the giants were going to win. all day today, she asked, did the giants win? are the patriots sad they lost? were those other ballplayers sad? it was a great opportunity to talk about why it’s nice to share winning with my three year old who really has no idea what winning means in the modern sense but generally goes to bed each night, I hope, feeling like a true winner, a happy little being.
those cupcakes look fabulous and i must say i’d have eaten more than 2, esp. since they were minis, so in my mind you’ve exercised more than a modicum of unnecessary self control.
xo to y’all.
February 5th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I love Ina Garten’s recipes so I’m definitely going to try these cupcakes. Butter is OK with me, in fact I’m going to use my homemade butter for these.
Crate and Barrel sells her coconut cupcake and cream cheese frosting in a boxed mix, but I think from scratch would be better. Have you seen Crate & Barrel’s cupcake tower? It’s three tiers, holds two dozen cupcakes in a vintage style design. It’s $36.95 and I’m seriously thinking of using it to do a dessert display for Easter dinner.
February 7th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
How could the Patriots have done that to us? And how did you get the frosting so damned perfect? And when are you coming to MY house to make ME cupcakes (and not share them with the kids!)? I miss you, damned it.