Coconut heaven cupcakes

I’ve been on a baking bender lately. Hopefully nobody minds. I finally ordered Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World from Amazon last week, so in the meantime, I wanted to make some cupcakes from books I already have, since those recipes are likely to be ignored once I have a whole book of cupcakes to choose from. These are from Vegan with a Vengeance, and they gave me the chance not only to use more of the unsweetened coconut milk I’ve got, but also to break out the unsweetened shredded coconut I bought awhile back. These are pretty caloric, so I made some regular-sized cupcakes for friends and some minis for me. If you don’t have the refrigerated unsweetened coconut milk that I used, you can use canned coconut milk instead, it will just increase the fat and calorie content somewhat.

For the cupcakes:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

For the frosting:
1/4 cup Earth Balance, softened
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin (or a 24-cup mini muffin tin) with paper liners. Spritz with cooking spray and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, coconut milk, sugar, and vanilla.



Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and whisk until smooth. Fold in 1 cup of unsweetened coconut. Fill each muffin cup about two-thirds full.



Bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes (18-20 for minis); the cupcakes should be slightly browned around the edges and spring back when touched. Remove from the muffin tin let cool on a wire rack.



Using an electric mixer or a whisk, cream the Earth Balance until light and fluffy. Add the coconut milk and vanilla and combine. Add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Fold in the unsweetened coconut, and refrigerate until ready to use.



Frost the cupcakes once they have cooled completely.



You can tell on the first bite that these babies are not "light" in any way. The coconut comes through loud and clear, lending the cake its dense chew. The rich, fluffy frosting is the perfect topper. These make a great (albeit once-in-awhile) treat for the coconut lover in your life.



Go ahead, indulge.



Yield: 12 regular or 24 mini cupcakes. Per cupcake (regular): 281 calories, 13.1g fat (5.4g sat), 41.1g carbs, 2.6g fiber, 2.1g protein.
Per cupcake (mini): 141 calories, 6.5g fat (2.7g sat), 20.5g carbs, 1.3g fiber, 1.1g protein.

If you like this, you might also like...
Cookies 'n cream cupcakes, take one and two