Coconut Cream Filled Cupcakes



I pretty much love COCONUT everything. Coconut Prawns, Coconut Layered Cookies, Coconut Cream Pie, Pina Colada Bread Pudding.... and I recently thought, why not Coconut Cream Cupcakes!!!  Yeah!  I almost swooned when I took my first bite after photographing these.  I imagined they would be good, and I have a very good imagination, but these surpassed that.  They are luscious and creamy, and really, not too sweet!

I do have to tell you, these cupcakes are not low calorie or low fat, even though I tried to do what I could by using "light" coconut milk and "light" cream cheese.  It's a really good idea that this recipe only makes about 18.... 

I do know that some people don't care for coconut, but usually it's a texture thing, so if you have some of those people in your house, just skip the coconut in the pudding and the top of the cupcakes- viola, everyone happy!

The cake is vegan friendly, if you care, really I don't, but I will admit that I think that the recipe is the bomb (which is good...). I made it for my Chocolate Reese Stuffed Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting and it's been my #1 recipe on the blog! Wow, was I surprised, because frankly, I prefer to make spicy, savory kind of dishes, and not so much desserts. 

Coconut Pudding

Makes about 2 cups
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk*
1 egg yolk

1/2 cup Coconut milk
1 cup Milk
1 1/2 Tbsp of corn starch
1/2-1 cup of toasted coconut (reserve some for top of finished cupcakes!)

Mix all ingredients, except toasted coconut, together and mix well.  Cook all ingredients together over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it begins to boil and thickens. Add the toasted coconut, if using, after the  pudding has cooled.

P.S. This pudding scorches very easily, causing little brown bits to float around in your pudding.... hence me adding the toasted coconut!!!  The scorched bits don't taste bad, but they might bother you, everyone else will be scarfing down cupcakes and won't care.

*Sorry about the 1/2 cup thing, but the leftover sweetened condensed milk makes great Vietnamese Iced Coffee! You could also make a double batch and leftover pudding, which is not a bad problem to have... which is what I did in these pictures.  I'm a little afraid to be in the house with coconut pudding in the fridge though... yum!!!

Because I made the cupcakes first, I needed to rush to get my pudding cooled.  Here's a great trick (clean out the sink, fill it with ice and some water and put your bowl in the middle.  Stir every 5 minutes or so until the pudding is cooled.  Make sure that it's stable and won't tip over, you will really hate getting water in your pudding!!!

I also use this trick for anything really hot, like stock, soup or stews, that I want to get in the fridge right away.



Here's what cooled pudding looks like.  See how the texture on the top is starting to hold it's shape?  It looks thick enough for the cupcake filling.



Coconut Cupcake Ingredients:
Makes about 18 cupcakes

Stable Whip Cream Frosting
This is frosting for people who don't like normal frosting... not too sweet! It would be great on Carrot Cake or even on top of pies! While this says "stable", you will need to refridgerate this overnight if you do up ahead of time, ibut t's fine for a couple hours at room temp. 

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package reduced-fat cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract, or coconut extract, if you have it!

2 cups heavy cream

Combine the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract and almond extract in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment and mix on medium speed until smooth. While the mixture is still whipping, slowly pour in the heavy cream. Scrap down the bowl as you go, if needed, whipping until the frosting can hold a stiff peak.

Assembling the cupcakes, cut a little hole in each cupcake with a paring knife and remove the top, fill with pudding and put the top back on.  This gives you a nice shape to pipe frosting around, giving your cupcakes a 'tall' look and not flat!

Coconut Cupcake recipe
 
2 cups flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup oil

1 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon vinegar, white or Cider

Preheat oven at 350.
Mix together all dry ingredients, then the coconut milk, oil and extract, then add the wet mixture to the dry and stir until uniformly moistened.  This batter is a bit more liquid than most batters, but it cooks up nice and moist! Line your muffin tin with papers and fill each one about 1/2 full.  Bake for about 20 minutes. Let cool completely