Surprise Coconut Key Lime Cupcakes

The start of spring means refreshing and bright flavors so we are sharing a recipe for Coconut Key Lime Cupcakes with a special secret surprise hidden in the middle! Using coconut and key lime together creates a lovely balance of tart and sweet. This recipe uses a mix of store bought items with homemade ingredients making it easy to make and so much fun to eat. Get ready to make your taste buds dance!

The secret ingredient that adds a hidden touch of chocolate to our cupcakes are store bought chocolate doughnut holes! We choose coconut covered ones since it would give a hint of coconut flavor inside the cupcake. If you don't like chocolate you could use vanilla coconut covered doughnut holes instead. We used our BakeBright cupcake liners because they are a tad taller than other standard size cupcake liners. They provide that little extra room needed for the doughnut hole and the key lime cupcake batter that needs to surround it.

Cupcake Ingredients:

Makes 12 cupcakes + extra batter to make a small cake you can turn into cake pops

12 pre-made chocolate coconut covered doughnut holes
1 box of white cake mix
2 drams of LorAnn Key Lime flavoring
zest of 2 limes
lime green food coloring
BakeBright cupcake liners

How to make Coconut Key Lime Cupcakes:

Step 1:Preheat your oven to 350. Place your cupcake liners in the baking pan cavities. Place one of the chocolate coconut doughnut holes in the center of each cupcake liner.

Step 2: Prepare your white cake mix according to the directions on the box. Add the lime zest, 2 drams of key lime flavoring and a couple drops of lime green food coloring to the cake batter, mix until combined.

Step 3: Add approximately 3 tablespoons of batter to each cupcake liner (add a little less if you are using larger doughnut holes). Try to get the batter around the doughnut hole and lightly covering the top. If you add too much batter the cupcakes may overflow while baking. There will be extra batter you can use for more cupcakes or bake in an 8" x 8" pan for making cake pops.

Step 4: Bake for approximately 23-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the edge comes out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire cooling rack. Now it's time to prepare the frosting!

Coconut Milk Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup of the solids from a can of coconut milk
a few drops - 1/2 dram of LorAnn Coconut Flavoring
1/2 tablespoons vanilla bean paste
4 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
jumbo open star frosting tip
disposable frosting bags

How to make Coconut Buttercream Frosting:

Step 1: Place softened butter and coconut milk solids in a large mixing bowl, then beat until well blended. Add in vanilla bean paste and a few drops of coconut flavoring if you want a more intense flavor. Slowly add in the confectioners sugar a cup at a time mixing well in between. We used 4 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar total to get the frosting to a consistency that would pipe well on a cupcake and hold its shape. Depending on how the temperature of your kitchen, you may need to add a little more sugar if you find the frosting is still too fluid.

Tip: If you add too much sugar and the frosting seems stiff you can add in a teaspoon or two of the leftover liquid coconut milk to soften it.

Step 2: Once the frosting is at a good piping consistency take your disposable frosting bag and snip off about an inch from the point. Place the jumbo star frosting tip in the bag and then add your frosting and get ready to pipe some swirls on your Coconut Key Lime Cupcakes!

Surprise number two! We are sharing two ways you can decorate your coconut key lime cupcakes! The first is shown above where you add a swirl of frosting and sprinkle on a little lime green sanding sugar, then top with shredded coconut. This is great for spring, summer and even wedding cupcakes! Since St. Patrick's Day falls in March and is a "green" holiday we dressed up some of our cupcakes just for this special day! We used our St. Patrick's Day Nonpareils and shredded coconut to cover the frosting swirl and then topped them with a mini candy chocolate doughnut which you can find out how to make here. Either way you are sure to please if you make these sweet cupcakes!

If you make our coconut key lime cupcakes be sure to tag us "#bakelifesweet @bakerspartyshop" so we can see and share your sweet creations on Instagram and Facebook!

We'd love to hear what kinds of cupcakes you'd like us to share next. Leave a comment below with some suggestions and we might pick one to make!

Happy almost spring!

Esther & Shauna

This post was written, styled and photographed by Esther of The Bakers Party Shop. If you share a photo from our post a link must be displayed back to this post and credit given to The Bakers Party Shop. All photos and content are copyright of The Bakers Party Shop & The Bakers Confections, All rights reserved 2016.