Birthday Cupcakes

♪♫HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME♫♪

For a while now I've really been wanting to make some piña colada cupcakes. I made some a while back from scratch and although they were delicious they didn't taste anything like piña or colada :( SO I decided to try again, to make some for mine and Chris' birthday which is today. They are SOOO good. I used a pineapple cake mix, added some coconut extract and made my own coconut flavored cream cheese frosting. With a few of them I put a chuck of pineapple in the center. I will definitely be making these again.

Here is the recipe to the best of my memory:

Piña Colada Cupcakes

• 1 box of Pineapple Supreme Cake Mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup of canola oil
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
• 3/4 cup of milk (you may substitute with coconut cream or heavy cream)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of coconut extract

1. Preheat oven to 350˚ & grease your pan well.
2. Mix Pineapple Supreme Cake Mix, eggs, canola oil, water, & coconut extract. Put in baking dish of your choice and bake according to the cake box instructions. I use 12 regular sized muffin pans and 24 mini muffin pans. (if you want pineapple chunks inside the cupcake put a little bit of cake mix in the bottom then a pineapple chunk then cover with more cake mix. Only fill cupcake pan 2/3 of the way full.
3. Meanwhile, combine sweetened condensed milk, milk, and coconut extract.
4.  When cake is done cooking remove from oven and poke holes using then end of a wooden spoon, or something of equal size. Make sure NOT to poke all the way through. Pour milk mixture over and allow to cool. Once the cake has cooled most of the way, refrigerate.

Now for the icing:

• 4 oz of cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup of unsalted butter, softened
• ABOUT 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon of milk (or heavy cream if you have it)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon (or more depending on how strong you want the coconut flavor to be) coconut extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• **1/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut **optional  

1. Beat cream cheese and butter together until fluffy
2. Add powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time after 1 cup has been added, add the milk, then add the rest of the powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time.
3. Beat in salt, coconut flavoring, and vanilla until smooth.
4. Add more powdered sugar to thicken or more milk to thin, until you have the desired consistency.

Cupcake Goodness...

So I've never been much for baking sweets from scratch, but I've decided to try my hand at it. Mostly because I've had a really bad sweet tooth.

So I did a little research on cupcake recipes and just kinda threw my own recipe together with whatever stuff I had in the pantry.

Slightly Tropical Virgin Piña Colada Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup Butter, softened
• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 2 3/4 cups Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/4  teaspoon Salt
• 3/4 cup Sour Cream
• 1/2 cup Cream of Coconut
• 1/2 cup Pineapple Juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350℉. Line cupcake pan with paper or foil liners.
2. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla
3. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
4. In another separate bowl whisk together sour cream, cream of coconut, and pineapple juice.
5. On low speed, add dry ingredients a half cup at a time to creamed butter, alternating with a half cup of sour cream mixture. Blend on high speed for 2 minutes.
6. Fill cups 2/3 full. Bake for 22 to 26 minutes. Cool completely before icing.

For Next Time:

Next time I make these I will probably get some coconut flakes and sub crushed pineapples for the pineapple juice.  And they weren't as sweet as I would like so I'll probably add more sugar. Plus maybe add some coconut extract, cause they "tropical flavor" I was going for isn't there at all. The moistness wasn't a problem, they are very moist. But they are a little dense for my likely so I will do some research to find out what to do to help with the denseness for next time. 
As for the icing, I couldn't give you the recipe if I wanted to cause I just threw some stuff together and added things here and there to get the flavor I wanted. But next time I make these I want to come up with some sort of pineapple frosting. When I do I'll get the recipe down and post it.