Coconut Cream Pie Cupcakes: A Delight for the Senses

First and foremost, sincerest apologies for being absent this past week. With out of town relatives in town, and Fourth of July festivities, and annual parties etc it has been one hectic week! But now things have calmed down and I can share with you the delight that is Coconut Cream Pie Cupcakes. I made this Wednesday for the out of town relatives that came over. There were about 11 people here, I made 24...and I had to eventually take a few and hide em' for Richard and Mary (the inlaws). With Richard's affinity for Coconut Cream Pie, I knew I had to save a few or I would never hear the end of it. Mary gave me the best compliment I received from anyone which was "best cupcake I have ever tasted." And coming from another "foodie" that means a lot. Even the hubs went crazy for em. I cannot even describe the taste, but I can tell you, you will be the hit of the party if you bring these adorably delicious cupcakes! Enjoy!
Coconut Cream Pie Cupcakes:
Cake Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pans
• 2 cups sugar
• 5 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure almond extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the pans
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup milk
• 4 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

Cream Pie Filling:
3/4 Sugar
3 TBLS Corn Starch
2 Cup Whole Milk
3 EggYolks (Save Whites!)
1 Tbls Coconut Extract
1/2 Cup Flaked Coconut
1 TBLS Butter

Merengue:
3 Egg Whites
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/4 tsp cream de tartar
6TBLS Sugar

Directions for the Cake: Preheat oven to 350
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed for 3 to 5 minutes, until light yellow and fluffy. Crack the eggs into a small bowl. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl once during mixing. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well. The mixture might look curdled; don't be concerned.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the milk to the batter in 3 parts, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Fold in the 4 ounces of coconut with a rubber spatula.
Pour the batter evenly into the 2 pans and smooth the top with a knife. Bake in the center of the oven for 45 to 55 minutes, until the tops are browned and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a baking rack for 30 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto a baking rack to finish cooling.

Once cooled, core a hole in the center of the cupcake to fill with the cream pie filling. Top with merengue in a swirl pattern using Wilton's cake tips and bags, and bake until merengue browns at 375.

Cream Pie Filling Recipe:
Mix sugar and corn starch in a pot. Add Milk and Egg yolks, mix together and put on heat. Medium heat works best, but if you're in a hurry you can put it on high just do not stop stirring. Cook til thickens. Take off heat and add remaining ingredients.

Merengue:

For Merengue, beat first 3 ingredients until soft peaks form. Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook will tell you this only takes a minute...they are liars! Your merengue should look like this before you add sugar. Once it looks like that begin adding tablespoons of sugar one at a time. Beat merengue until stiff white peaks appear. Add it to the top of your cupcakes, and bake at 375 until merengue begins to brown. Eat and enjoy!


A few things that helped make this recipe a success:
Now obviously you can use any cupcake pan, but to make the merengue super cute the 53 piece decorating set from Wilton is a must have. Making your cupcake standout with these tools is a breeze, and I am not a good decorator at all!!! Wilton helps make you look like a decorating superstar!


Much love and Happy cooking,
Amelia