Coconut & Lime Cupcakes

If you're looking for a treat with the delicious tropical flavours of coconut and lime you've certainly come to the right place.   These cupcakes are deliciously yummy, and when you've made them the once I'm sure it won't be long before you decide to make them again.

Coconut and Lime Cupcake Recipe.

These cupcakes are super easy to make using the classic Victoria Sponge recipe as the base for the batter.   Added to the batter is the finely grated zest of a lime and a nice amount of desiccated coconut, sufficient to support the coconut flavour but not too much to result in a dry cake.

Once baked and cooled the cakes are filled with a fabulously zesty homemade lime curd and
topped with a coconut buttercream frosting and lightly toasted coconut
flakes.  Although you might usually pipe your cake frostings to get a lovely swirl, our chosen method of decoration in this instance simply calls for it to be dolloped on (a technical word for you ?) and smoothed out a little with the back of a spoon before finishing with a scattering of toasted coconut flakes.

Coconut Buttercream Frosting.

By far the easiest way to make a coconut flavoured buttercream frosting is by using a pre-flavoured icing sugar, and then making the buttercream frosting in the usual way with butter and lots of beating.  There certainly seems to be quite a few flavoured icing sugars available to buy from local high street shops and supermarkets these days, making the task of getting the right frosting consistency an awful lot easier.  The product we used for our coconut buttercream frosting is by Cake Decor, and is called flavour-ice naturally flavoured icing sugar, (this is not an affiliate link, I've mentioned it simply because I really loved the product) which we picked up from our local supermarket.  As you might expect, though, it is a little more expensive then ordinary icing sugar, but the great twist is that as the flavour is quite robust it's likely that you will be happy to 'dilute' the flavoured icing sugar with regular icing sugar helping to make it go a little further whilst still getting a really delicious clean coconut taste to your frosting.  We were happy with using roughly 2 parts coconut icing to 1 part regular icing sugar.

If you decide to make these Coconut & Lime Cupcakes (and why wouldn't you because they're seriously yummy!), you'll surely need to have Harry Nilsson's 'Coconut' playing in the background!  And if you're not familiar with it (like me until an Instagram friend enlightened me) go and have a listen, though I make no apology for it getting in your head and having you singing all day long ? .

How to make Coconut & Lime Cupcakes.

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Coconut and Lime Cupcakes

Our Coconut & Lime Cupcake recipe uses the popular ‘tropical’ flavour combination to great effect.  They’re easy to make, and perfect as a little family treat, shared with friends and work colleagues, or included in a charity bake sale.

Prep Time45 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time1 hr 5 mins

Course: Cake

Cuisine: International

Keyword: cupcakes

Servings: 8 cupcakes

Author: Angela – Only Crumbs Remain

Ingredients

• 120 g butter softened
• 60 g caster sugar
• 60 g golden caster sugar
• 2 large eggs lightly beaten
• 1 lime finely grated zest
• 60 g desiccated coconut
• 2 tbsp milk
• 120 g self-raising flour

for the cupcake filling

• 8 tsp lime curd

for the coconut buttercream & decoration

• 180 g butter softened
• 230 g coconut icing sugar we used Cake Decor’s flavour-ice naturally flavoured icing sugar
• 130 g icing sugar
• 1 – 2 tsp milk
• 60 g coconut flakes

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 190℃ (170℃ fan)/375°F/gas mark 5. Place the muffin sized cases into the muffin tray.
• Make the sponge. Place the soft
butter and sugars into a good sized bowl and beat together with a wooden
spoon or electric beaters until very pale and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten eggs a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lime zest, desiccated coconut and milk, and beat to combine.  Sieve the flour into the mixture. Use a
spatula or large metal spoon to fold this in gently.  You’re aiming for a
nice dropping consistency.  Add a little more milk if
necessary.
• Fill the muffin cases. Using a
teaspoon, fill the cases with the batter mixture. You’re aiming for them
to be half to two-thirds full. You may decide to weigh each muffin to
ensure equal sizes. Each will weigh about 60g – 63g.
• Bake. Place the muffin tray in the
centre of the oven and bake for about 20 – 23 minutes. You may need to
rotate the tray after 15 minutes of baking. Once baked, remove from the
oven and place on a cooling tray.
• Make the buttercream.  Place the
softened butter into a good sized bowl.  Beat to ensure it is soft and
creamy.  Sieve half of the coconut icing sugar into the butter.  Use a wooden
spoon to combine the two ingredients.  Sieve in the remaining coconut icing
sugar and mix to combine.  Sieve the unflavoured icing sugar into the buttercream and beat again.  Beat well to create a creamy frosting.  Add a little milk if necessary, and
beat in well.
• Toast the coconut flakes.  Place the coconut flakes into a dry frying pan / skillet.  Set on the hob over a low to medium heat. Allow the coconut flakes to gently pick up a soft brown colour whilst frequently moving them around the pan to avoid them catching and spoiling.  Be aware that the coconut flakes can toast quite quickly.   Tip the coconut into a bowl and set aside to cool.
• Hollow out the cupcakes.  Use a
paring knife or the wide end of a large piping nozzle to create a hollow
in the top of the cupcake.  Use the tines of a fork to gently remove a little more of the cupcake sponge if required.   Add a teaspoon of the lime curd.  Avoid over filling.
Cut off a little of the sponge that was removed and place the ‘crust’ piece back onto the
cupcake to act as  a ‘plug’.
• Decorate. Place 2 – 3 tsp of coconut icing onto the cupcake.  Use the back of the spoon to smooth it out. (If you prefer you could pipe it on).  Finish with a generous scattering of toasted coconut flakes.

Notes

Equipment:

• 8 muffin sized cupcake cases
• muffin tin

Store:

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Undecorated cupcakes can be frozen in an airtight container. Allow to completely defrost before filling with lime curd & topping with coconut icing & coconut flakes.

Cook's Tip:

a) Aim to ensure your ingredients are at room temperature before baking. Consider very gently warming the lightly beaten eggs over a double boiler if the eggs are chilly, especially in the colder months. Heat them until they are tepid (neither warm nor cold to the touch).  This should help prevent the batter from curdling and produce a better cupcake sponge.

b) When making the cupcake batter, consider weighing the cracked eggs first to ensure the batter has equal weight of butter, sugar(s), eggs and flour. Simply weigh the butter, and combined sugar to the same weight as the eggs. Of course the value may be slightly different to the 120g listed in the ingredients above.

c) We preferred to use a mixture of coconut icing sugar and regular icing sugar to make our buttercream. Using just coconut icing sugar can make the flavour a little too overpowering, though increase the quantity if you prefer (keeping the ratio to 1 part butter: 2 parts icing sugar).

Tried this recipe?I would love to know how you got on – Tag me on Instagram @OnlyCrumbsRemain or leave me a comment and rate the recipe below.