Coconut Lime Cupcakes with Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting

June 16, 2011


If only I loved typing as much as I love baking. I'm a terrible typist. I don't type so much as peck at the keys, as though my hands were hungry chickens grabbing for their food. The only fingers I use are my index fingers, thumbs, and middle fingers. The rest of them are idiots, trying to act like they want to help, but too lazy to really do anything. If they're lucky, sometimes one of them gets to hit the space-bar. It's total chaos.

Luckily, thanks to a crossword addiction obsession, my handwriting is quite lovely. I've mastered the art of writing tiny, yet legible print. (Because admit it, if one letter in a crossword puzzle answer is not uniform with the rest, the whole thing is kaput.)

I'm also obsessed with piping out frosting, especially when I've managed to not 'taste test' so much of it that I no longer feel like looking at the food I'm about to frost.

So to sum up all the randomness. Frosting, good. Typing, bad. Cupcakes, priceless.


These are frankencupcakes. A little bit of this, and a little bit of that, and voila...you have yumminess (not a Michelle Branch song). The cupcakes are soft, fluffy, and filled with lime and coconut love.

I would eat these cupcakes without any frosting.
I'd eat this blueberry cream cheese frosting without any cupcakes to put it on too. (I did. ha.) It's a creamy, dreamy, summery frosting that's filled with fresh blueberries, plus it's such a lovely shade of purple. If you don't have blueberries, feel free to use any kind of berry. These cupcakes would rock a raspberry cream cheese frosting!

Who doesn't have fun making cupcakes? It's instant therapy. If you can't type fast to save your life, or if last year's bikini is suddenly a thong, it's ok. Just make cupcakes and worry about it tomorrow. Scarlette O'Hara was onto something. :D


Coconut Lime Cupcakes with Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting Print

Cupcake Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
12 Tablespoons ( that's 1 1/2 sticks or 3/4 cup) of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup of granulated sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 heaping Tablespoon of grated key lime zest (about 4-6 limes)
2 Tablespoons of fresh lime juice
1/2 cup of buttermilk (well-shaken)
1 cup of sweetened coconut flakes

Method
Preheat the oven to 325F, and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking Powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
Using a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (a hand-held will work too), beat the butter and sugar together on high speed for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Turn the mixer down to low speed and add the eggs one at a time, beating for about one minute per egg. Scape down the sides of the bowl if needed. Add the almond extract, zest and juice, mix well.
On low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry (you'll do 5 rotations in total-3 dry and 2 of the buttermilk.) Mix only until just incorporated. Once you add the last of the dry ingredients, you can use a large spatula to fold it into the batter until all the streaks of flour have disappeared. It's always better to under-mix than over mix.
Fill each liner almost to the top with batter.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center cupcake comes out clean. Remove the tin from the oven and allow the cupcakes to rest for 10 minutes before removing. Cool completely before frosting.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients (adapted loosely from Martha Stewart)
1/2 cup of fresh blueberries (cleaned and dry)
1/2 cup (that's 1 stick) of unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
8 oz of cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3 1/2- 4 1/2 cups of confectioners' sugar, sifted (you'll need to play around with the amount to achieve the right consistency.)
1/4 teaspoon of pure almond extract

Method
Place the blueberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed.
In the bowl of a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (a hand-held will work too), beat together the butter, cream cheese, and salt on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes.)
Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners' sugar. Be sure you don't add too much all at once or your kitchen will be coated with sugar.
Once about 3 1/2 cups of the sugar has been added, beat until well combined.
Add the almond extreact and 4 tablespoons of the blueberry puree. Mix until just blended. If the consistency looks too thin, add a bit more confectioners sugar.
If you want more blueberry flavour, add 1 Tablespoon at a time, along with more sugar to compensate. The frosting should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.
If it's still too thin, cover and refrigerate until it thickens.
Frost the cooled cupcakes as desired!

Makes 12 cupcakes

16 comments:

  1. Heavenly! That flavor combination is to die for and your cupcakes look so pretty.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  2. What a pretty cupcake! I have been on a major blueberry kick this spring!

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  3. I love crosswords too, but they haven't seemed to improve my handwriting. My typing is much better than my cursive.
    I can't believe how awesome those cupcakes look. I will definitely make them sometime this summer!

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  4. These look so good!! I have been loving blueberries in just about everything these days so I know I will be making these soon. :)

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  5. Aren't you the only coconut lover in your family? You could always FedEx me a couple if it would help you out.
    :)
    I love coconut and lime and would have never thought of blueberry cream cheese icing. Oh and I'm always amazed at how fast some people can hunt and peck type! I'm much better at typing--my handwriting is atrocious, to my mother's great shame.

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  6. Hi Mary,
    Thanks for the offer, but I actually ate more of these than I care to admit...it's not very often that I get to play with coconut, and I passed the yearly cupcake consumption quota by leaps and bounds. :D

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  7. yummy and very pretty cupcakes :0

    We have a lot of things in common..I too, love coconut, crossword puzzles, (was) obssessed in frosting/decorating cakes and I'm bad in typing but I'm better at it now ;)

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  8. My handwriting is so atrocious that I HAVE to type!
    I love the combination in these cupcakes, Valerie! Very summery. Never thought to use blueberries in a cream cheese frosting. Love it!

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  9. Just baked these cupcakes and they turned out so wonderfully! Wow, I'm so excited about the burst of flavour in them. Thankfully all are accounted for so I won't be sneaking anymore tonight.

    Just thought to mention that I substituted three bananas in place of the butter in the cupcake batter. They turned out really nicely -- the banana offers just a slight flavour and complements the others well.

    Thanks for a great recipe :)

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  10. Thanks for the great recipe! Just made the cupcakes and they are bursting with flavour - turned out amazing!

    I thought to mention that I substituted the butter for three bananas in the cupcake recipe. The banana flavour is very subtle and complements the other flavours well. So the cupcakes aren't crumbly, instead they hold together.

    Thanks again :)

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  11. Hi Tanya,
    Wow, great idea to use bananas (that way it's alright to enjoy more than a few in one sitting!) :D

    I'm glad to hear that you liked them!

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  12. Hi Valerie! I discovered your blog a couple of days ago, and i have to say, i'm impressed!
    Concerning the Coconut Lime Cupcakes recipe, how can i substitute the sweetened coconut flakes with plain coconut flakes?
    Wouldn't affect the proportion of sugar?
    Thank you for the wonderful recipe, and for your answer in advance!

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  13. Hi Evi,
    If you plan on using unsweetened coconut, I would only use 3/4 cup of sugar (instead of 1 cup).
    Thanks for visiting! I would love to hear how these turn out for you! :-)

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  14. What a nice combination...wow, will try for sure ;-) Thanks

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  15. These look absolutely scrumptious!
    -Elisabeth

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Thanks for visiting, and for taking the time to read through my ramblings!
If you have a recipe comment or question, I'd love to hear from you.

Happy Baking!
♥ Valerie

 

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