COCONUT CUPCAKES



Today was a busy but fun day. Easter Sunday. I love watching my boys hunt for Easter eggs. Although I did find out today that my little guy Kevin knows there is no Easter Bunny, I am afraid Santa may be out as well. He informed us this morning that he knows dad hides the eggs and mom (me) goes out and buys all the stuff. He is seven and a half but I had hoped it would last one more year. Oh well, my boys are growing up and and we had a good time anyway. We made a prime rib dinner, never made it before but it was yummy. We sat around and watched Harry Potter movies, starting with the first one, for the rest of the day.

Today I tried to make a coconut cupcake. I ran across a couple of snags along the way. Since I worked 12 hour shifts the past three days and got off late last night I couldn't or should I say didn't go shopping ahead of time, and had trouble finding coconut milk. I would just like to know what people in my town were making today because the only grocery store here was completely sold out of coconut milk. Why? Anyway I bought a fresh coconut for its milk and crossed my fingers that it would work.


Well in the batter I used the fresh coconut milk, the batter had a mild hint of coconut flavor so I added half a teaspoon of coconut extract to ensure the flavor came through. Once the cupcake was baked and cooled I noticed that the cake was crumbly. It was still very soft and moist but wasn't holding together firmly like a cake should. But the taste was spot on. Half of the cupcakes had coconut flakes i them while the other half didn't. Even though I like the taste of coconut I do not like the texture of the flakes. Silly, but don't ask me why.

Now the frosting came out perfect. It was lite and fluffy and ever so creamy. My family loved them but they also agreed that they were crumbly. In going over the ingredients and the process of making the batter, the only thing I can think went wrong was the butter wasn't soft enough before starting the mixing processes. So next time I will let the butter stand till it is definitely room temperature.

My next attempt will be red velvet, that is if I can find red gel food color paste.

Happy Easter everyone.