Cupcake Wednesdays: Pina Colada Cupcakes

Pineapple and coconut are hard to mess up. They compliment each other perfectly with the sweet/tartness of pineapples and the sugar sweetness of coconut. Since these were the first cupcakes I would be bringing to work after our winter break, I thought I would do something a little different. Plus, it is about time I expanded my repertoire. Pina Colada cupcakes it was.

The recipe I began using seemed pretty good, but then I realized that there were no eggs. That would be fine, but I didn't seem to find any other stabilizing ingredient in there so I added a couple eggs. The batter tasted really good actually, sweet and pineapply. I was sure these would be great. They rose pretty well in the oven and retained very low domes. The taste test was a let down though. Don't get me wrong, I don't think these are bad. Glenn does. They just need a lot of work. I want the pineapple flavor to be strong. I want the coconut to just peek through. I want the frosting to be a standout. I got the frosting part right. I added pineapple and coconut flavored rums to a cream cheese frosting base and got a perfectly smooth icing out of it. I rolled the tops in coconut to make them pretty. These still aren't what I am looking for. I will certainly be tweaking this recipe so I can have a hands down hardcore awesome Pina Colada Cupcake recipe. Until then, these will work just fine.

Everyone at work who tried one seemed to love them. I got lots of compliments. The coconut was a turn off to some people. Other people, like one of the counselors I work with, had 4 or 5. He usually eats 2 or 3 so I am not sure if that means anything.


Pina Colada Cupcakes
yield 24-30 cupcakes

(1)
1/4 C Malibu Coconut rum
1/4 C Parrot Bay Pineapple rum
1 1/4 C crushed pineapple
1 C coconut milk
1/2 C oil
2 T vinegar
1/3 C pineapple juice
4 eggs

(2)
2 C sugar
2 2/3 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Extra coconut for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 - 12 cup muffin pans with liners. In a medium to large bowl, whisk together all of (1) until thoroughly combined. In a large bowl whisk together all of (2). Add all of (2) to (1) and whisk until combined and very smooth. Distribute batter into muffin cups, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake for 20-24 minutes. Allow to cool then frost cupcakes and garnish with coconut.

Rummy Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 T butter, softened
2 1/2 T Malibu Coconut rum
2 T Parrot Bay Pineapple rum
2 C powdered sugar

Mix all ingredients in a medium sized bowl until smooth and creamy. Add more or less rum to taste (this is already fairly strong) and add more or less powdered sugar according to your desired texture.

Searching For My Lost Shaker of Salt... Salt.... Salt

I don't know what it is that is going on at our house, but we are now on Round 2 of Drunken Cupcakes. We asked our friend Calogero what his favorite drink was and he said Margaritas. Since it was his birthday last weekend, I decided to make him Margarita Cupcakes. You know what? There are no good recipes out there for Margarita Cupcakes! At least in my opinion. I wanted something that tasted like a margarita, not something that had the essence of margaritas (and I mean a citrusy flavor as opposed to tequila). I ended up making up my own recipe.

How did that go? Let's just say everyone is very happy. Calogero loved them. Glenn loves them. Glenn's coworkers love them, and I already have a few of my new coworkers requesting I bring them some. After I did so, I was told that I am officially "in." This was probably my most adventurous baking endeavor yet. I was really proud of myself. I don't really feel like typing up the whole recipe, but if you want it, just drop me a line and I will eventually get around to getting it to you.

By the way, this is definitely an ADULT cupcake. They are quite alcoholic but are a great dessert for any adult gathering. Woohoo!

Million Dollar Cupcakes

Okay, so maybe they didn't cost a million dollars to make, and I am not selling them for a million dollars, but these were some pretty expensive cupcakes. These lovelies are called Irish Car Bomb cupcakes. For those of you who don't know what an ICB is, it is a glass of Guiness that gets a shot of Bailey's and Jameson bombed into it. You have to drink it really fast before it starts to curdle. Sounds fun right? Well, I have never had one, but it was Glenn's favorite drink back in his "drinking days" and he just loved it.

I was just browsing the internet the other day when I came across this recipe and I mentioned it to Glenn. He got this smile on his face and he just said yum. Since we were going to go out to a friend's house to have dinner and I was assigned to make dessert, Glenn suggested I make these cupcakes. Needless to say, in a non-drinking home, we didn't have any of the booze on hand. We went out to the grocery store and bought a bottle of Jameson for about 30 bucks, a bottle of Guiness for about 2 bucks, and a bottle of Bailey's for another 20 bucks or so. Sheesh! I seriously cannot believe that I spent that much money to make cupcakes. At least I will have plenty more when I want to make these again. It's strange how much alcohol I have accumulated for baking purposes only.

I'll be honest, and say I was a bit skeptical when making these, but they turned out so beautifully! When I filled the cups 2/3 full, they baked up with perfect round domes on top that didn't sink in after cooling. They were nice and moist and the frosting was delicious. I also added some milk to my frosting and improvised the amounts of Jameson and Bailey's according to our tastes. I suggest you tailor it to your tastes rather than follow the ambiguous directions. If you are in need of a drunken cupcakes, I really suggest you give these babies a shot, you won't be sorry.