Ina's Coconut Cupcakes

I've been trying a lot of cupcake recipes trying to find a few that I really like. A lot of girls on the Nest Forums were raving about these coconut cupcakes so I had to try them. You can get the original recipe HERE. As you'll see, it's an Ina recipe from her Food Network show, Barefoot Contessa. In traditional Ina-fashion, these are not figure-friendly cupcakes -- I mean 6 sticks of butter between the cupcakes and frosting -- HELLO! But then again, I don't have that expectation for any cupcakes! Cupcakes are meant to be enjoyed, so go for it!

Overall, the recipe was pretty easy to put together. The only suggestions I would make are these:

-In the recipe it says to fill the cupcake liner all the way to the top. As they baked though, my cupcakes rose a little more than I would like and the tops were all touching each other. Next time, I would just fill the liners to 3/4 the way or close to the top.

-By shear accident, I didn't buy enough cream cheese for the frosting. I was only able to make half the recipe. It ended up being plenty for all the cupcakes though! I even still had a little left.

I thought these cupcakes were pretty tasty. I like the almond flavor in them. I don't know that I would say there was a huge coconut presence though. I mean, the only thing that made them coconut cupcakes is that fact that I folded in some shredded coconut into the batter and also sprinkled some on top. Take that one element away, and it's just a regular cupcake (but still very yummy.) I wonder if I could kick these up a notch and do kind of a pina colada twist. Maybe add some Malibu rum to the batter (coconut flavored!) Maybe I could use some crushed pinapple in the batter or put some in the frosting... Maybe I could even use some pinapple juice in the frosting... Hmmm, all things I'll have to try someday. Until then, I've got a lot of cupcakes to eat!