“Cupcakes are Sweet and even Sweeter when Shared.” ~ Marie Williams Johnstone
Coconut Cupcakes with Lemon Curd
There is something about coconut cupcakes that remind me of Easter. They do look a little like nests if you let your imagination soar. Also, it’s probably because my grandmother would make coconut cupcakes for Easter. She dyed the coconut green, sprinkled it on top of the vanilla icing and put colorful jelly beans in the nest. All her grandchildren thought they were wonderful and they were.
These cupcakes are a little fancier because they are filled with a fragrant, vibrant lemon curd. To add some extra lemon flavor, the cream cheese icing has lemon curd folded into it.
These cupcakes would be terrific anytime, but they are extra special on Easter Sunday.
Directions for the Cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners, or grease and flour the pans.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium sized bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and the lemon zest. Add half of the flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add the coconut milk and mix in on low speed, and finally add the remainder of the flour.
Fill the cupcake cups about ¾ full using an ice cream scoop. Bake, on the middle oven rack, for about 18 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes.
Use a cupcake corer or paring knife and cut out a ¾ by 1 inch core from the center of each cupcake. Using a piping bag, pipe lemon curd into the hole in each cupcake.
Frost each cupcake with the cream cheese icing and sprinkle sweetened coconut on top of every cupcake.
Directions for the Lemon Curd:
- 1 large egg
- 5 large egg yolks
- ¾ cup of sugar
- ½ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- Pinch of salt
In a medium sized pan, whisk the egg, egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, butter and salt over medium heat for about 7 minutes until thickened. Whisk continuously and do not let the mixture boil.
Strain the curd into another bowl. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap pressed directly onto the curd. Chill until cold at least one hour.
Directions for the Lemon Cream Cheese Icing:
- 8 ounces room temperature cream cheese
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 4 ½ cups sifted confectioner’s sugar
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ cup of lemon curd
In the bowl of a stand mixer, using a paddle attachment, beat together the cream cheese and the butter. Beat in the heavy cream and then slowly add the confectioner’s sugar. Beat in the vanilla extract and beat for one minute. Mix in the lemon curd. NOTE: If the mixture is too soft to pipe on the cupcakes, chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
Coconut Cupcakes with Lemon Curd and Lemon Cream Cheese Icing
By Published: April 16, 2014
- Yield: 18 cupcakes
- Prep: 1 hr 30 mins
- Cook: 25 mins
- Ready In: 1 hr 55 mins
"Cupcakes are Sweet and even Sweeter when Shared." ~ Marie Williams Johnstone Coconut Cupcakes with Lemon Curd There is something …
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 medium size lemon, zested
- 3/4 cup coconut milk
- 1 cup sweetened coconut
- 1 recipe lemon curd see blog post
- 1 recipe lemon cream cheese icing see blog post
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners, or grease and flour the pans.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium sized bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the room temperature eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and the lemon zest. Add half of the flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add the coconut milk and mix in on low speed, and finally add the remainder of the flour.
- Fill the cupcake cups about ¾ full using an ice cream scoop. Bake, on the middle oven rack, for about 18 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes.
- Using a cupcake corer or paring knife, cut out a ¾ by 1 inch core from the center of each cupcake. Using a piping bag, pipe lemon curd into the hole in each cupcake.
- Frost each cupcake with the cream cheese icing and sprinkle sweetened coconut on top of every cupcake.
- Enjoy!!
