Tag Archives: shredded coconut

Coconut Brownie Cups

Posted on February 19, 2014 by Ruthanne

These moist little brownie cups have a layer of creamy coconut and a yummy fudge topping. Beautiful and easy to make, these are sure to impress!

I’m addicted to coconut. I really do love it in everything. Have you seen the coconut Oreos? The coconut M&Ms? The coconut Hershey kisses? Yeah….there’s no better flavor in my book! That said, if you hate coconut (as many of my friends do), these little brownie cups can be made with other flavorings. I’ve made them with mint, maple and raspberry flavorings and all of them are delicious! You can add a little food coloring to make them pretty too. This is a really fun, easy and versatile recipe- and I think you are going to love it!!

Here’s the recipe, it makes 24 cups: (printable version)

Brownie:

1cup butter
2 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Coconut filling:

5 cups powdered sugar
8 tablespoons melted butter
2 teaspoons coconut extract
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Chocolate Topping:

12oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
12 tablespoons butter (do not substitute margarine here!)

DIRECTIONS:

Brownie:

Preheat oven to 350.
Cream butter and sugar together.
Beat in eggs, cocoa, vanilla and salt.
Add flour and milk (alternating them and mixing well in between)
Spoon evenly into 24 cupcake liners in a cupcake tin.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (don’t over bake- they will start to pull away from the liner)
Cool.

Coconut Filling:

Add melted butter to sugar and extract.
Mix well, using water to bring it to a thick but spreadable consistency.
Add coconut and blend well.
Scoop filling into a large zip top bag fitting with a large round tip and pipe filling over the top of each brownie.

Chocolate Topping:

Melt butter and chocolate together in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until completely melted and smooth.
Pipe over coconut filling and spread evenly over top
Chill until top layer is hard and use any extra topping to pipe fine lines on the top if desired~ be creative!!
Enjoy!!

Coconut Brownie Cup! My thoughts: These are one of my favorite go-to recipes. I love how beautiful they are and I love the versatility of the flavors. These are SO perfect for showers and parties. You can even color the fillings to match school, team or wedding colors. Very fun! I hope you enjoy them!!! ~r

Other fun and colorful recipes:

Tie-Dye Cake with Blue Raspberry Frosting!

19 Comments

Posted in Brownies, Cupcakes and tagged baking, best, brownie, brownie from scratch, chocolate, coconut, coconut extract, cream filling, dark chocolate, dessert, fancy, fudge layer, layer dessert, mounds bar, recipe, shredded coconut, unique. Bookmark the permalink.

Coconut Cupcakes

Posted on August 31, 2013 by Ruthanne

These coconut cupcakes are infused with coconut cream and topped with smooth coconut buttercream frosting….YUM!!!

Coconut is one of my very favorite flavors. So many people dislike it and I just can’t understand!! Starbucks used to have the most amazing coconut mochas– discontinued due to lack of interest. Recently, Cheesecake Factory discontinued my favorite cheesecake- coconut cream pie. What is this world coming to?

If you like coconut, you will enjoy these cupcakes so much- they are positively bursting with coconut flavor. Honestly, they are my new favorite cupcake, followed closely by cookie dough cupcakes. If you don’t like coconut you should make cookie dough cupcakes. You need cupcakes today.

Yum…..

Here’s how to make them: (printable recipe)

INGREDIENTS: (makes 12 cupcakes)

Cupcakes

1 ¼ cups of cake flour
1/2 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
3 egg whites and ½ egg yolk at room temp
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1/3 cup cream of coconut (plus a little to brush on top)
2 teaspoon water

Coconut Buttercream Icing:

2 sticks (1 cup) of butter at room temperature.
2 cups powdered sugar
3 teaspoons coconut extract
1/2 cup shredded coconut
White food coloring gel.

DIRECTIONS:

Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 325F
Add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt to a large mixing bowl and using an electric mixer combine these dry ingredients well.
Cut (room temp!) butter into 1 tbs pieces.
Add these pieces one at a time to dry ingredients while blending on low speed.
Mix until butter pieces are separated into small bits (no bigger than pea-sized)
In a smaller bowl, whisk together the rest of ingredients.
Slowly add half of liquid mixture to dry, while mixing on medium. Mix until completely combined.
Slowly add the rest of the liquid and mix on high for about a minute until well combined.
Divide batter into 12 cupcake liners in a cupcake tin.
Bake for 15-18 minutes until a toothpick inserted into middle comes out clean.
Allow cupcakes to cool in pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Poke holes into tops of each cupcake and use a pastry brush to brush coconut cream on top of each cupcake.
Allow coconut cream to soak in while you make icing.

Icing:

Add all ingredients except shredded coconut into a mixing bowl and combine with a mixer on low. Then whip on high until light and fluffy.
Frosting will be an off-white color because of the butter. To make it more “coconut” colored you can add white food coloring gel to your desired shade of white.
Add shredded coconut and blend well.
Scoop icing on top of each cupcake using a cookie scoop. Evenly divide icing among the 12 cupcakes.
Press coconut on top and sides of entire scoop of frosting.
Enjoy!

My thoughts: There are so many fun little cupcake stores out there. I’ve been trying them out and picking my favorites. I’ve come to the conclusion that made-from-scratch cupcakes have more potential than boxed mixes. Potential for both good and bad. I’ve had some terrible cupcakes and some absolutely heavenly ones. I’ve decided that I need to be brave and venture into developing my own from-scratch recipes for cupcakes. This was my 1st attempt and I was really excited they turned out well! If you need a QUICK coconut cupcake recipe, use a white cake mix with some coconut flavoring and this coconut buttercream. Here’s to new adventures in life! Enjoy!! ~r

Love cupcakes? Try one of our four most-viewed recipes!

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Posted in Cupcakes and tagged baking, best cupcake recipe, coconut, coconut buttercream, coconut cream, cream of coconut, cupcake, dessert, homemade cupcakes, photo, recipe, shredded coconut, vanilla, white cupcakes. Bookmark the permalink.

Coconut Caramel Cupcakes

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Ruthanne

Half-n-half coconut and caramel cupcakes topped with coconut buttercream and melted caramel sauce…yum…!

I was in the baking aisle of my grocery store the other day (of course!) and I saw these:

I was understandably intrigued….two flavors in one cupcake….? This has to be better than just one lonely flavor…..? Plus they weren’t very expensive. I had to try them! So I stood in front of the cake mixes pondering the possibilities… caramel sounded good…but with what? Coconut!!! Like those yummy Girl Scout cookies….

I grabbed two cake mixes, some caramels and some coconut. Ready to go. Note the two cake mixes. If you want two flavors you need two mixes, which means that this recipe makes a TON of cupcakes. 48 to be exact. I made 24 full size cupcakes and then used the rest of the batter making minis for a different recipe idea. You could make the full 48 and freeze half without the toppings too- just thaw and frost when you need them!

Here’s the recipe. Makes and frosts 48 cupcakes. (printer-friendly recipe)

INGREDIENTS:

1 boxed caramel cake mix (with water, oil and eggs to make according to package)
1 boxed white cake mix (with water, oil and eggs to make according to package)
1 cup shredded coconut (divided)
4 teaspoons of coconut flavoring (divided)
32 Kraft caramel candies (unwrapped)
1 (14 oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) salted butter (divided)
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
3 cups powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Make both cake mixes according to box instructions
Add 3/4 cup of shredded coconut to the white cake mix along with 2 teaspoons of the coconut flavoring. Mix well.
Place the rest of the shredded coconut on a small cookie sheet in oven for 10-12 minutes until toasted and browned. Set aside to cool and use for topping at the end.
Place cupcake liners in a cupcake pan and set batter dividers into center of cups. (get 12….I got 6 and it took longer than I wanted it to!!)
Gently spoon batter on each side of divider and tap pan to settle batter into bottom of cup.

Once batter is evenly spooned in on both sides, just pull divider straight up and out, leaving a half caramel/ half coconut cupcake! (so fun!!!)
Bake at 350F degrees according to times on boxed mix, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

While cupcakes are baking, make your caramel sauce:

Place 32 Kraft caramels, sweetened condensed milk and 1/4 c. (1/2 stick) of salted butter into a saucepan and heat it on high, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth (takes about 5-6 minutes). Set aside.
Make buttercream frosting by adding 2 sticks of salted butter, 2 sticks of unsalted butter, powdered sugar and remaining 2 teaspoons of coconut flavoring to a large mixing bowl and beating it until it is light and fluffy.
Cool cupcakes completely.
Mix caramel sauce (reheat a bit if it has started to harden) and dip the tops of each cupcake in the sauce.

Allow caramel sauce to harden and cool completely (or it will melt your buttercream!)
Place coconut buttercream in a large zip top bag that has been fitted with a piping tip in one corner.
Pipe frosting over top of each cupcake.
Sprinkle toasted coconut on top.
Drizzle with any remaining caramel sauce you have left….and enjoy!!!

My thoughts: Loved these cupcakes…so flavorful and fun! The two-flavor center got lots of “wow”s and that caramel topping…yum….! I would get 12 of the batter dividers. It was just inconvenient to need to wash and dry them half way through. I’m excited to try other color and flavor combinations now. Super fun for school colors or sports team cupcakes (go Packers!!). Hope you are inspired to try these. I think you will really love them! Enjoy!!!! ~r