I♥cuppycakes!

Pina Colada Cupcakes

January 31, 2010 at 10:03 PM | Posted in crunkcakes, cupcakes | 15 Comments

I’m kind of the unofficial room mom for my Hubs’ history department.

In short. I provide the snacks for their weekly meetings.

But you won’t find me buying fruit juice boxes and snack size bags of cheetos for them. Heck no! I’d have a full on revolt on my hands. These are adults. They need adult snacks. So I bake cupcakes. Not just regular ol chocolate or vanilla though. They get crunkcakes! And if I have any readers that are teachers… You can understand why they NEED a little crunk by the end of their day. Know what I’m saying?!! But don’t worry. It’s hardly enough to get you drunk. The teachers are still smarter than your 12th grader. *snort*

In other news.

I’M AN AUNTIE! *squeal*

My twin nieces, Allison and Whitney, were born yesterday at 4:01pm. They are both pink and healthy! Mom+dad are exhausted but doing well too. Thanks to all for your T+P. I truly believe it made a HUGE difference in their current well being.

Let’s celebrate with a round of pina coladas! On me…

Recipe adapted from From Scratch

Makes 12 cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

For pineapple & coconut cupcake
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp table salt
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 large egg yolk, room temperature
1-8oz can crushed pineapple in juice, well drained, juice reserved (I used about 1/2 cup)
1/3 cup of the reserved pineapple juice
1/3 cup sweetened coconut

For coconut creme filling
1 pkg (3-1/2oz) Jello instant vanilla pudding
1 tsp coconut extract

[Note: You won't use all the filling. Save the leftovers for an after school snack or double the "cake" recipe to make 24 cupcakes.]

For pineapple rum whipped cream
1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1-3 tsp pineapple rum, to taste (I used Captain Morgan)
2 tbsp granulated sugar

1/2 cup sweetened coconut, toasted*, garnish

*I toast in my skillet on medium-high heat but don’t walk away! It happens fast. Or you can bake in a 350F oven for 8-10 mins.

INSTRUCTIONS

To make cupcake—
Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare cupcake pan with liners.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a stand mixer, fitted with a flat beater, combine butter and sugar and beat on medium-high speed until fluffy. Add the eggs and egg yolk one at a time and beat well after each addition. Decrease to low speed and add the crushed pineapple. Beat in the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the pineapple juice, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Fold in the coconut.

Fill cupcake liners about 1/2-3/4 full. Bake for about 20-22 mins or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

To make coconut cream filling—
Make pudding as directed on the box. Add 1 tsp of coconut extract.

To make whipped cream—
In a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, whisk together heavy cream and sugar on low until you have stiff peaks. (Hint: Turn bowl upside down and if whipped cream doesn’t fall out, it’s stiff.) Fold in pineapple rum to taste.

To assemble cupcakes—
Remove the center of cupcake using the cone method. Add about 1-2 tbsp of coconut creme filling. Trim down cupcake top and replace over the filling. Using a Wilton 1M (or favorite star tip), pipe pineapple rum whipped cream on cupcake. Garnish with toasted coconut.

ENJOY!

Husband rating: A
He has a sweet tooth but more of a chocolate sweet tooth. Any other dessert he doesn’t like it too sweet so this cupcake was great for him. He loved the filling and thought the whipped cream was a nice light topping.

Wifey rating: A-
I like the pineapple+coconut “cake” but it’s not sweet enough for my sweet tooth. Maybe if I make this cupcake again I’ll make a buttercream or cream cheese frosting to bump the sweetness factor up a notch.

Other rating: A
All of Hubs’ coworkers raved that they knew it was a pina colada cupcake from the first bite. I received many compliments for the coconut cream filling. One coworker that is allergic to coconut ate one too! He said the rash would be worth it later. HA HA!