Mini Cupcakes With Coconut Frosting

What is your favorite part of a cupcake -- the cake...or the frosting?

For me, it's all about the frosting.

But, I've got to tell you...the cake part of this equation is pretty darn good on it's own. Without the frosting, they'd make for some pretty fabulous muffins. 

I came up with this combination when I was trying to figure out what to bring to a get-together with Mr. Goo Shoes' oldest friends. The four men have been friends since their childhood days in Brooklyn...and the wives, well, we have developed our own special friendship over the years. 

Every few months, we get together at one of our homes. We usually gather at about 4pm, and wrap up around midnight. Eight hours is never enough time to cover everything we have to talk about. The ladies discuss everything under the sun, but the guys tend to tell the same stories over and over again...

...like how they used to stand on a street corner in Brooklyn, singing and dancing to The Isley Brothers' "SHOUT" to keep warm while they waited for the school bus.

"You know you make me wanna (Shout!)
Kick my heels up and (Shout!)
Throw my hands up and (Shout!)
Throw my head back and (Shout!)
Come on now (Shout!)

Or, when they drove down Flatbush Avenue and mooned everyone out of the car window (why do I tell you these things)?
    
Oh, how I would pay LOTS of money to travel back in time to witness those scenes!

Now I know this crowd loves coconut cake, but because we always have enough desserts to feed not just all of Brooklyn, but the other four boroughs as well, I didn't want to bring a big cake. Cupcakes were the answer. Mini cupcakes, actually. This way everyone could have a little bite of this, and a little bite of that.

When I'm looking to make a rich cake, I head to my bookcase straight to Rosie's All-Butter, Cream-Filled, Sugar-Packed Baking Book, by Judy Rosenberg. Rosie's never lets me down...and it didn't this time, either. The recipe for Coconut Fluff Babycakes sounded perfect.

I'm sure the frosting in Rosie's cookbook would have been fabulous (everything in that cookbook is a-MAZ-ing), but I was trying to replicate a cream-cheese based frosting from a cake we all love, and I found one on allrecipes.com. 

A few pre-baking notes  -- 

• I used Bonne Maman Cherry Preserves, because it is my favorite.  I used just the jam part...I didn't want any lumps of cherry in the middle of the cupcake.
• For the frosting, I cut the original recipe in half (it made 5 1/2 cups). The recipe below is for half of the original recipe. If you like gobs of icing, you may want to make the full recipe.
• You can make the cupcakes in advance and freeze them; then frost when you are ready to serve them. 

Coconut Fluff Babycakes 
Recipe from Rosie's All-Butter, Cream-Filled, Sugar-Packed Baking Book, by Judy Rosenberg

Yield: 24 mini cupcakes

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
2 large egg whites
3-4 teaspoons fruit preserves

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F.

Line 24 mini muffin cups with paper liners.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl. 

Cream the butter, oil, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and the vanilla in a medium-size bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light in color. Stop the mixer once during the process to scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Lightly stir one-third of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture with the spatula. Then turn the mixer to low speed and blend partially. Scrape the bowl. Add half of the milk, and blend it in with several broad strokes of the spatula. Then fold in the remaining dry ingredients by hand, followed by the remaining milk. Turn the mixer to low speed and blend until the batter is velvety. 

Beat the egg whites in another bowl with the electric mixer on medium-high speed until frothy.  Gradually add them remaining 1/4 cup sugar and continue beating until soft peaks form.  

Using the rubber spatula, gently fold the whites into the batter.

Fill each cupcake liner half full with batter. Then place 1/8 teaspoon of the preserves in the center of the batter, and fill the liner with more batter so that it reaches almost to the top of the liner. 

Bake until risen and set, 15 minutes.   Cool in the pan on a rack for 20 minutes. Then remove them from the pan and set them on racks to cool completely, about 40 minutes.

Coconut-Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe from allrecipes.com by Lilster

 Yield: 2 3/4 cups   

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coconut flavoring
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted (optional)

Beat the cream cheese and butter in a mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar, one cup at a time, alternating with heavy cream. Beat in the salt, coconut flavoring, and vanilla extract. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and spreadable. Add additional confectioners' sugar if necessary to thicken the frosting, or more cream to thin. Stir in the coconut. Spoon  coconut (toasted, if desired) over the frosted cupcakes.

These cupcakes are SO good, they made me want to SHOUT...kick my heels up and...oh, sorry, I just got a little carried away.  I caught my self just short of mooning people on the Garden State Parkway, however.  I'm a lady...after all :)

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