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.