pina colada cupcake frosting party!

I had a request for pina colada cupcakes and went right to work experimenting with flavors and recipes to come up with something spectacular. I started by adding coconut & pina colada drink mix to an old fashioned pineapple upside down cake recipe. YUM! But the BIG STAR of the show was the pina colada FROSTING and that’s the recipe I want to share with you immediately.

It's SO delicious; I think I would scrap the cake & just serve shots of this frosting! It is the perfect tropical delight for those warm summer days by the pool cold winter evenings by the fire! Yes, it’s the middle of November & I’m STILL in denial that summer is over. One taste of this & I'm back to July! My recipe is alcohol free but you could definitely add rum or rum extract to the recipe for the authentic pina colada kick.

I used THIS non-alcoholic Master of Mixes Pina Colada Mixer & it’s so good. It’s basically lots of sugar, cream of coconut & pineapple juice. It’s available at most grocery stores. If you prefer not to use it, you may substitute equal parts of pineapple juice and cream of coconut. Another unusual frosting ingredient I used is Jello brand Coconut Cream Instant Pudding mix, just the dry powder, straight out of the box. 

Pina Colada Frosting

click here to print the recipe only

Yields: 3 cups frosting

1/3 cup dry Jello Coconut Cream Instant Pudding mix (a full box has about 1 cup)

1/3 cup pina colada drink mix

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ teaspoon coconut extract or to taste (you may prefer 1 teaspoon)

2 tablespoons pineapple juice

½ cup salted butter

½ cup solid vegetable shortening

4 cups confectioners sugar

OPTIONAL: ¼ teaspoon rum extract OR 2 teaspoons light rum

1.     In a small bowl, add instant pudding mix, pina colada mix, vanilla extract, coconut extract, pineapple juice & rum or rum extract, if using. Whisk together until thick and smooth. Set aside.

2.     In a large separate bowl, cream butter and shortening with electric mixer.

3.     Add pudding mixture to creamed butter mixture.

4.     Add confectioners sugar one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed after each addition until smooth and fluffy. If thinner frosting is desired, add additional pineapple juice.

This makes enough frosting for 24 cupcakes, decorated as shown. I garnished them with toasted coconut*, fresh pineapple slices & well drained maraschino cherries. 

*To toast coconut in the microwave, place 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut on a paper plate, cook on high with set microwave for one minute. Don't walk away. Watch it like crazy & pull it out several times and stir it up and put it back in until perfectly toasted. It will take less than 2 minutes.

coconut cream cake party!

Happy birthday to my husband, Mark! I won’t give away his age but I’ll tell you that he robbed the cradle when we got married 23 years ago. :) July birthdays are THE BEST! His is the 1^st & mine is the 16^th. We love celebrating our birthdays together & typically celebrate all month. German chocolate is Mark’s go-to birthday cake but I decided to change it up this year since I just made him a German chocolate cake for Father’s day a few weeks ago.

I got this recipe from our family cookbook that I compiled many years ago. It’s from my sister & it was her father in law’s favorite cake. The Graham family cookbook is one of my most special treasures. It includes recipes from my Grandma, like Granny's Sunday Possum (she’s a jokester, it’s BEEF!), my mom’s FAMOUS holiday dinner rolls and peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and LOTS of other delicious recipes from my siblings, aunts, uncles & cousins! I’m so lucky that my family LOVES to cook!

I think this coconut cream cake is going to become a tradition in our family too! It's super easy & delicious AND VERY RICH and starts with a cake mix. This is my favorite white cake mix & I used it for this recipe.

If you’ve never bought a can of cream of coconut, the stuff is AMAZING! Make sure you buy CREAM OF COCONUT and not coconut milk.  You can buy it at WalMart or the grocery store & it’s sold by the drink mixers, right by the margarita salt & the bloody mary mix. It may be somewhat solid (& alarming) when you open the can, don’t worry, after one bite you won’t care how it looks, go ahead have a taste, it's tropical paradise! You may need to liquify 1 cup of it to pour over the cakes by placing it in a bowl & microwaving it on low for a short time. If it’s solid, keep 1/2 cup solid for the frosting.

Coconut Cream Cake

ingredients

1 15.25 ounce extra moist white cake mix
3 egg whites
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/3 cup whole milk
2 cups sweetened flaked coconut, divided (1 cup in cake mix, 1 cup to garnish frosted cake)
1 can sweetened cream of coconut, divided (The can contains 1 1/2 cups. 1 cup will be used to drizzled on the baked cakes and 1/2 cup will be used in the frosting)
3 cups coconut buttercream frosting, see recipe below OR your favorite buttercream frosting

1. Grease and flour two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans. I used 9 inch but recommend 8 inch pans. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat cake mix, egg whites, oil and milk on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed for 2 minutes.

3. Stir in 1 cup flaked coconut.

4.  Pour into prepared pans.

5. Bake for 24-29 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes before removing from pan.

6. Place cakes on waxed paper or parchment paper. While cakes are still warm poke holes in the cake. I used a wooden chop stick.

 

6. Slowly pour 1/2 cup of cream of coconut onto the holes of each cake. If your cream of coconut is solid put it in a bowl and microwave it on low for 30 seconds to liquify it. DON'T pour it all in the middle of the cakes, pour it near the edges of the cake also and in all of the holes.You want it to be evenly distributed and not all soaked into the middle of the cakes. Allow the cake to completely cool. 

7. Place one cake layer on your cake plate. Spread 1 cup of frosting onto the cake. Place the 2nd cake onto the frosting and spread 1 cup frosting on the top and another cup of frosting on the sides of the cake. Garnish with additional cup of flaked coconut.

8. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Coconut Buttercream Frosting
adapted from Wilton

1 cup Crisco, solid vegetable shortening
1 cup butter, I use salted butter
1/2 cup cream of coconut, it's best if it's more solid than liquid. If it's liquid refrigerate it for awhile
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8 cups confectioners sugar (approximately 2 pounds)
** 2-4 tablespoons milk

Cream butter, shortening & cream of coconut with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add powdered sugar, one cup  at a time, beating well after each addition on medium speed. Start mixer on slow speed after each addition to avoid a powdered sugar explosion/mess. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. ** If frosting is dry, add milk, as needed and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.

You can also make this recipe without the cream of coconut & plan to use the milk.

This recipe makes more frosting than you will need to frost this cake. Refrigerate the extra frosting in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Re-whip leftover frosting before using.

snowball truffles party!

PRINT RECIPE ONLY

It’s white chocolate & coconut! What more can I say besides DELICIOUS! These truffles would make a nice little gift & can easily be changed up with different flavors of extracts & coating. I’ve made them with almond extract instead of coconut extract & topped them with chopped almonds instead of coconut. Be daring & try lemon extract rolled in coconut. OR how about peppermint extract, topped with crushed candy canes! Use your imagination & make your wildest dreams come true with these!

They are super rich & tasty. The silky white chocolate center & the hard chocolate shell reminds me of Lindt Lindor Truffles. But guess what? Lindt doesn’t make coconut truffles, you do! Make some for Santa & I bet you will get something special in return!

You might be wondering what the difference is between white CHOCOLATE & white CANDY COATING. I use both for this recipe. I use white chocolate for the truffle center & candy coating for dipping the truffle in.

White chocolate contains cocoa butter, which is what qualifies it to be called chocolate. White chocolate also has sugar, milk fat & vanilla flavoring. White candy coating is usually sugar, oils, like partially hydrogenated stuff & more artificial flavors. White chocolate has a superior taste but the candy coating is so darn nice for dipping. Candy coating melts as smooth as butter & is much easier for dipping than chocolate. Definitely don't substitute candy coating for the white chocolate in the truffle mixture. It would probably taste good, unless you are a chocolate snob, but I think it would be too sweet. If you are a chocolate snob & don't want to use candy coating for the dipping, you can definitely use white chocolate for that too. Just add a tablespoon or 2 of shortening when melting the chocolate to smooth it out for dipping.

Snowball Truffles

ingredients:

1/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon coconut extract
12 oz. Baker's premium white chocolate or any high quality white chocolate (not candy coating)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut, for rolling truffles in
8 ounces white candy coating, melted for dipping

directions:

1. In a medium sized glass bowl, heat the cream, butter, extract & white chocolate in microwave at medium power for 1 minute intervals, stirring between each cooking time until chocolate is smooth & melted.

2. Stir in the powdered sugar. Refrigerate truffle mixture until firm for 1-2 hours.

3. I like my coconut shredded finer than it comes in the bag, so I pulse it a few times in the food processor. I like it even finer than I did today, but it's not even necessary at all. Place coconut in a small bowl & set aside.

4. Roll truffle mix into balls. I use my smallest cookie dough scoop to measure, which holds about 2 teaspoons. Place balls on wax paper lined baking sheet. Refrigerate or freeze while you melt the white candy coating.

5. Melt candy coating in microwave on medium power, stirring often, until melted.

6. Take truffles out of fridge & dip into melted candy coating. I use a fork for dipping. Tap on side of bowl to remove excess candy coating & place dipped truffle into the bowl of coconut. Roll in coconut & sit on waxed paper until chocolate has dried.