Coconut and Vanilla Cupcakes

I hadn't made dessert in a few.... days.... and the boyfriend and I were both beginning to get the sugar cravings.

We just bought a carton of Silk Coconut Milk, so I set off on a journey to find a recipe with coconut milk.

I found this.

Vanilla Bean Coconut Cupcakes. Yes, please.


I proceeded to make some of the softest, moistest, delectable-est cupcakes in the world.

And I topped them with homemade cream cheese frosting and dunked them in sweetened shredded coconut for good measure. ;)

I began by reducing the coconut milk - though Silk Coconut Milk is hardly coconut milk. I'm sure your results will be much better and much coconut-ier if you use regular coconut milk.

I then beat everything into magical cupcake batter goodness.

And I finally got to use the adorable cupcake liners I got at Joann's the other day!

Once the cupcakes were golden and baked, it was time to make the cream cheese frosting.

I used this recipe, it's the same one my dear gramma used for the lemon cake she made for my birthday, so I knew it would turn out great. Plus, the name isn't lying, this really is The Best Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe.

I substituted Neufchatal cheese for the cream cheese and Smart Balance 50/50 Butter Blend for the butter.

Whipping up some creamy goodness!

Then it was time to frost those suckers and drown them in coconut - which is exactly what I did.

The finished products! To be honest, because I used Silk Coconut Milk instead of regular coconut milk, they ended up tasting more like vanilla cupcakes with coconut on the frosting - but that's not a bad thing. They were still delicious and now I just have to figure out how to get rid of 18 cupcakes without doing it the old-fashioned way - down the gullet.

Bon appétit,

Gabriella