Coconut Mocha Cupcakes

This week's menu:
Monday: Breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs, sausage, hashbrowns and cheddar cheese
Tuesday: Greek burgers with tzatziki and a side of beer braised potatoes with rosemary gravy
Wednesday: Bacon, caramelized onions, tomatoes, and asparagus quiche with a cup of tomato soup
Thursday: Chicken adobo with rice and sauteed bok choy

Since today's lunch was just a breakfast burrito, I did a coconut mocha cupcake for dessert. Although I'm not much of a sweet tooth, I do enjoy the occasional rich chocolate cake. What's even better than chocolate? Chocolate and coffee! This cupcake encapsulates some of my favorite flavors of mocha and coconut, without over-powering either one.

Coconut Mocha Cupcakes

Recipe from mybakingaddiction.com

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1 cup buttermilk, shaken

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

For the mocha buttercream:

4 sticks (2 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/8 tsp fine sea salt

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

5 cups confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar)

3-5 tbsp cold coffee

For the garnish: 

1 1/2 cup coconut, lightly toasted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Sift together the dry ingredients from the flour-salt into your mixing bowl. Mix on low until just combined.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients from the buttermilk - vanilla. Slowly add the wet to the dry ingredients while mixing on the low speed. Add the coffee and mix just until combined. 
4. Pour 3 tbsp of the batter into each muffin tin or about 2/3 full. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
5. Meanwhile, make the butter cream by beating together the butter, vanilla, and salt until creamy. 
6. In a separate bowl, sift together the cocoa powder and confectioners' sugar. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and mix on low until well mixed. Add 3 tbsp of cold coffee and mix on medium speed for 5 minutes. To thin out the frosting add 1 tsp of coffee at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
7. Frost the cooled cupcakes with a piping bag or a ziploc bag with an open corner. Sprinkle tops with toasted shaved coconut and serve. 

Nutritional Analysis:
per serving: 280 calories, 13.2g fat (5.6g saturated, 2.6g polyunsaturated, 3.7g monounsaturated), 38.8g carbohydrates, 1.0g fiber, 2.6g protein

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

Like all cupcakes, this batter is simply a matter of combining all of the ingredients and mixing them together. Sift your dry ingredients to make a smoother batter.

This batter is a lot runnier than other cupcake batters I've made but it all ends up good so don't worry!

My cupcakes were ready in exactly 18 minutes.

Now for the frosting. I've had trouble before making butter cream frosting, but this one was a piece of cake. Just make sure your butter is at room temperature or it will not become creamy. I added an additional teaspoon of coffee and found it to be at the perfect consistency. Now for the amount. When I initially looked at the list of ingredients, I thought 5 cups of powdered sugar and 2 cups of butter seemed like a lot. I divided the amount by half and found it to be exactly right for 24 cupcakes; however, I did use less frosting for the cupcakes to prevent it from being too sweet. I enjoy the cake more than the frosting when it comes to cupcakes so I only spread one layer. If you make the full amount you should have enough to generously top each cupcake.

To toast coconut, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the shaved or flaked coconut on a baking sheet. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until golden, stirring occasionally. 

This cupcakes was everything I was craving into one. The cake is so light and surprisingly, not as decadent as I had thought. It is actually very subtle in taste and gets most of the sweetness from the frosting. I was glad I didn't do the full amount of frosting or it would have been too sweet for me. The coconut flakes were the perfect finishing touch, adding texture as well as flavor to the cupcake. Now I just have to resist from eating all of them...