Piña Colada Cupcakes

For those of us living in the North East, spring is not yet here. It was a miserable week with lake effect snow still coming down in April.

During all the snow brushing, it occurred to me that I haven't had mixed frozen drinks in 7 months!!! My last frozen drink was consumed on our honeymoon in Jamaica last September when I had 5 to 6 to 7 piña coladas a day (who was counting?). Needless to say piña coladas are my favorite frozen drink and it always bring back memories of paradise...which does not include snow.

These cupcakes were made to rectify that sad fact and wish this winter away. Positive thoughts is all it takes to keep the snow away, right?

I adapted a piña colada cake recipe from Smitten Kitchen. It's a pineapple-coconut cupcake with coconut cream cheese frosting. Yes, coconut again!! Clearly I have an issue when it comes to coconut...but it's so yummy and I can't help myself!

These cupcakes bring back lots of summer memories that I can now hold on to until spring arrives! Paired with my favorite frozen drink, any lingering winter blues will be washed away!

NOTES

• Cupcake liners: Wilton Color cups bought from Michael's

• Cake stands: Bed Bath & Beyond, TJ Maxx and Marshall's (respectively)

• Since this is a learning blog, I need to share the things that I struggle with. I had a lot of issues with photographing these cupcakes: sunlight was too much at some point, then it became cloudy really fast and I monkeyed with my camera settings and created the 'yellowish' hue you see in the pictures. Spent some time on Photoshop trying to fix them, but it didn't exactly work. I'm going to spend some time this week reading up on using Photoshop for edits and also find other alternatives.

 

Piña Colada Cupcakes

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ stick unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon dark rum
2 large eggs, at room temperature
¼ cup cream of coconut

¾ cup whole milk, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon coconut extract
¾ cup finely chopped fresh pineapple (or crushed pineapple from a can, strained)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350^oF. Line two cupcake pans with 24 liners.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy (3-5 minutes). In another bowl, whisk together the cream of coconut, milk, vanilla and coconut extracts. Set aside.

Add eggs one at a time, scraping down bowl as needed. Then add the rum and mix until combined.

Add half of the dry ingredients, followed by the liquid mixture, and the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix until combined.

Fold in the fresh pineapple. Using a scoop, fill cupcake pans with batter and bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean 20-25 minutes.

Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting. Garnish with maraschino cherries.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from Glorious Treats

1 ½ stick unsalted butter, room temperature

8 oz cream cheese (directly from fridge)

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon coconut extract

4 cups powdered confectioners sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon heavy cream

Directions:

Place butter in a mixing bowl and whip until pale and fluffy, 3-5 minutes

Add cream cheese and mix until well combined.

Add vanilla, coconut extracts and powdered sugar, one cup at a time.

Mix on low speed until well combined.

Increase speed to medium and beat until frosting is fluffy, 2-3 minutes.

Add heavy cream and beat additional 1 minute.

Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes if needed.