Coconut Daiquiri cupcakes

We’ve been on a shredded coconut kick in our household recently. Macaroons (not macarons) are a definite favourite, as are various coconut-based cocktails. So it will come as no surprise that the combination of coconut and alcohol came up in the discussion of desserts. Of course I am not the first to consider the combining of alcohol and cupcakes and there are many recipes for cocktails-turned-cupcake.

I used the basic framework of a daiquiri for my cupcakes – rum, lime, sugar – and coconut of course. I found a similar recipe on the fabulously-named Bake It With Booze blog, and made a half-recipe to end up with about 15 cupcakes. I appreciated that this recipe had rum in the batter as well as in the icing – and a good slug of it to boot.

Once they were cooled, I made up what can only be described as rum buttercream – icing sugar, butter, and rum in the place of the usual water I use when making buttercream. It was quite boozy! I smoothed some icing onto the cupcakes and then decided that this already indulgent cupcake needed more.

I worked in batches of three or four, icing them and then dunking them into a bowl I’d filled with more shredded coconut. The end result was a tray full of snowballs in garish wrappers.

Then it was merely a matter of decorating the cupcakes appropriately before serving.

Yes, we are the type of household to have little paper umbrellas to hand. No, I did not realise the colours of the umbrellas were so closely matched to the colours of the cupcake wrappers until I went to put them in – but I was pleasantly suprised by this!

As for the cupcakes themselves, they were definitely boozy – primarily from the rum in the icing. The flavour of the icing was great, and definitely something I intend to repeat. It wasn’t to sweet, and the rum contributed some great vanilla notes as well. I also really liked the cupcakes’ texture – fluffy and light, but with a definite chewy texture thanks to the shredded coconut in the batter. The lime came through nicely too.

While it wasn’t quite like being transported to some tropical island, eating these cupcakes was almost like drinking a coconut daiquiri. I think that more cocktail-based desserts will definitely be part of my future.

 

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