Easy Coconut Cream Cupcakes with Whipped Cream Frosting
Amycakes Bakes | amycakesbakes.com
5 from 13 votes
Made-from-scratch coconut cream cupcakes are tender, moist and buttery. The cupcake batter comes together quickly by hand, no mixer necessary! They're frosted with a fluffy and quick stabilized whipped cream, then topped off with lightly toasted coconut flakes for extra texture and crunch.
Servings 17cupcakes
Prep Time 10 minutesmins
Cook Time 16 minutesmins
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
200 grams (1 ½cups)All-Purpose FlourI use Gold Medal
1 ½teaspoonsBaking Powder
1teaspoonBaking Soda
¾teaspoonSalt
2TablespoonsInstant ClearjelA bakery ingredient you can use at home--see Note #1. Please make sure your clearjel is labeled as "Instant"
1 to 1 ¼cupCream of Coconut, stirred or shaken until smoothNot to be confused with coconut cream. Cream of Coconut is sweetened and often found in the beverage mixer aisle. See Note #2.
1TablespoonInstant ClearjelA bakery ingredient you can use at home--see Note #1. Please make sure your clearjel is labeled as "Instant"
Topping
2cupsUnsweetened desiccated Coconut flakes, Coconut Chips, or shredded coconut, dividedI use Olive Nation Desiccated Coconut. See Note #3.
Instructions
Make Coconut Cream Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 335 degrees. Fill cupcake tins with 17 cupcake liners.
Using a sifter or fine mesh strainer, sift the Dry Ingredients into a large bowl. Whisk the sifted ingredients until well blended.
Combine Wet Ingredients in a separate large bowl and whisk until smooth and well-blended.
Melt saltedbutter in the microwave (or over the stove) until just melted. Avoid overcooking.
Pour Wet Ingredients into Dry Ingredients and whisk until incorporated. Pour Melted Salted Butter over batter and whisk until smooth and shiny.
Using a 2-oz scoop or ¼ cup measuring cup, scoop batter into prepared cupcake tins. Allow tins to set for 5 minutes before putting them in the oven. This will give time for the instant clearjel to thicken the cake batter before it bakes, allowing for a better rise.
Bake in the middle or top rack (avoid bottom rack) of the preheated 325-degree oven for 8 minutes. Without opening the oven, turn the temperature down to 300 degrees and bake for another 6-8 minutes. The cupcakes are done when a toothpick or small paring knife comes out mostly clean when quickly stuck in the cupcakes. Because these cupcakes are so moist, it is okay to see a couple of moist crumbs on your knife when you check the finished product for doneness. But any wet-looking crumbs mean they need more time in the oven.
With a sharp paring knife, repeatedly poke the hot baked cupcakes all the way through to the bottom of the cupcakes. Poke each cupcake with cuts ¼ inch to ½ inch apart (I recommend watching the recipe video). Spoon or squeeze (if you are using cream of coconut in a squeeze bottle) a total of 1 Tablespoon Cream of Coconut on top of each cupcake while they are still warm, which will soak into the cupcakes. I find it the least messy to start by squeezing ½ Tablespoon Cream of Coconut mostly in the middle of each cupcake, then slowly and carefully spreading it with a silicone pastry brush over the cupcake. After it's melted into the cupcake, I'll go back to add an additional ½ Tablespoon Cream of Coconut on top of each cupcake, and then spread that in. By dividing it up, each cupcake will get the correct amount of Cream of Coconut with less drizzling down the sides of the cupcake liner.
If you are frosting and serving them the next day, wrap the cupcakes in the cupcake tin and leave at room temperature overnight. You may also freeze the unfrosted cupcakes wrapped tightly in the cupcake tin up to a week in advance and they will stay very moist.
Make Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting
Whisk the Powdered Sugar and Instant Clearjel together. (Instant Clearjel must always be whisked with dry ingredients before adding to liquid to avoid clumping).
Using a whip attachment and a stand mixer (preferred) or handheld mixer, whip the Heavy Cream, Pure Vanilla, and Pure Coconut Extract until stiff peaks form.
Turn the mixer on low, and slowly add in the Powdered Sugar/ Instant Clearjel mixture until incorporated. The Instant Clearjel will thicken the whipped cream instantly, which is why we want to make sure the whipped cream is nicely whipped and fluffy before we add in our thickener. Refrigerate until using.
Make Toasted Coconut
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spread one cup of coconut flakes onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake in the preheated 350 degree oven for around 2 minutes, or until just lightly golden around the edges. (Baking time will vary based on your oven and the thickness of the coconut. Watch towards the end of baking to avoid over-browning).
Add one additional cup of untoasted coconut flakes and mix until blended. (I prefer the look and texture of toasted and untoasted coconut mixed together, but you can use all toasted or all untoasted if you prefer). Allow to cool.
Decorate and Serve
I like to use 18" disposable pastry bags and a Round Cupcake Tip to pipe a medium-sized swirl of whipped cream on top of each cupcake. Gently rotate each cupcake and press the cooled coconut flakes into the whipped cream (as seen in the recipe video).
Serve immediately or refrigerate until serving. Enjoy!
Notes
Read my article Instant Clearjel: a Magical Bakery Ingredient to see why I think this ingredient is worth having in your pantry. Instant Clearjel must always be whisked thoroughly with other dry ingredients before being added to wet ingredients to avoid clumping. (Make sure what you purchase is labeled as "Instant." Cooktyle Clearjel is a different product that does not work the same in cakes).
I use Coco Real Cream of Coconut which comes in a squeeze bottle. Whichever brand you use, just make sure it is labeled as "cream of coconut" and not "coconut cream." Cream of coconut is often found in the beverage mixer aisle. Stir or shake your cream of coconut before using it.
Feel free to substitute sweetened shredded coconut for the unsweetened coconut, but you may wish to decrease the powdered sugar in the whipped cream to ½ cup (56g) in a 1x batch.