Sunday 9 November 2008

Pina colada cupcakes

The weather has been horrible all week: cold, grey, damp and just generally yucky. Therefore I decided to put a little sunshine into my baking with these pina colada cupcakes. The sun even came out for the photo!


These are the real deal – they use coconut rum, cream of coconut and pineapple, just like the cocktail. I defy anyone not to smile at the cocktail umbrella – which is somehow so naff it’s cool! I tried to keep the cupcakes as authentic as possible and used proper cocktail ingredients:


The smell of the cupcakes cooking was lovely; strong coconut but also the tropical smell of rum and pineapple. The recipe says to use glace pineapple but I couldn’t find it and didn’t have time to make my own, so I used dried sugared pineapple. Although it is dried it still tastes juicy. Using scissors I cut it into small, currant-sized, pieces. You can just make out the flecks of pineapple in this photo:


OK, so these would be better enjoyed sitting on a beach in the Caribbean, but then most things fall into that category!


Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
90g unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g caster sugar
125ml cream of coconut
2 eggs
2 tablespoons coconut rum (I used Malibu)
150g self raising flour
100g glace pineapple, chopped (you can use dried pineapple as long as it’s still soft and juicy)

For the icing:
300g icing sugar
1 tablespoon coconut rum
100ml cream of coconut (you might need a bit more or less, depends on consistency of icing)
12 pieces glace pineapple (or chunks –fresh or dried)
12 glace cherries

How to make:

- Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan oven 170°C/375°F/Gas mark 5.
- Line a 12 hole bun tray with paper cases.
- Start by beating together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the cream of coconut, eggs, rum and flour until the mixture is smooth.
- Stir in the pineapple.
- Spoon the mixture into the 12 paper cases and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out cleanly. Mine took 20 minutes.
- Leave the cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack.
- To make the topping, place the icing sugar, rum and some of the cream of coconut in a bowl and beat until thick and glossy. It is best to add the cream of coconut gradually as you may not need all of it; on the other hand you may need a little more. Use your judgement until you get the thick consistency of glace icing.
- Spread the icing over each cupcake.
- Thread a piece of pineapple and a glace cherry onto a cocktail umbrella and press into the cupcake. Repeat until all cupcakes are thus decorated.
- Leave the icing to set before serving.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.

16 comments:

April said...

now that's more like it!

April xx

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

Mmmmmmm, sounds delicious :P

Beth (jamandcream) said...

anything with malibu in sounds good to me

anudivya said...

I really do look forward to your posts during the weekend, how cute is that cupcake! Lovely...

Maggie said...

I love a little naffness now and again!
They really do look pretty.

Emily said...

Cute cupcakes! I could use one. It's so cold here...burrr.

glamah16 said...

Now thats just the cutest. It is gloomy and cold here too. But Im off to sunnier climes this weekend.

Katie said...

These look great - the umbrellas make it feel really tropical. Great idea.

Anamika:The Sugarcrafter said...

hi
visiting your blog after aong gap...simply liked your pina coalde cupcakes, the smell of rum witrh cocnut and pine apple must have very nice and tatse must have been very good.

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home said...

great recipe! I make a coconut cream cake that's similar to this! your cupccakes look very cute!

Maria said...

Those cupcakes are too cute!

Ling's Passion said...

The weather is bad here too. It's raining dogs and cats.

Cakelaw said...

I'm right there on the beach just looking at these - considering the temperature has dropped down to ten degrees C, that's saying something ...

Anonymous said...

I love it.I have just suggested this one to my sister who will have a bdday celeb for her kid.

Anonymous said...

Oooh, oooh, oooh! Where did you find Coco Lopez/cream of coconut in the UK? I haven't been able to find it at all. (Mind you, I have no idea what recipe I wanted it for, now!)

The cupcakes look glorious, and I love the cocktail umbrella! So cheerful :)

The Caked Crusader said...

Hi Angela

I got it from Lakeland Ltd - here's the link:
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/F/keyword/coco-lAND/product/12227

Happy baking!

The Caked Crusader