Coconut Key Lime Cupcakes
These coconut key lime cupcakes taste like summer. With a moist coconut cupcake made with coconut milk and toasted coconut extract, plus a tangy but sweet and creamy key lime cream cheese frosting, these cupcakes will be on repeat in your kitchen this summer!
Equipment
Ingredients
Coconut Key Lime Cupcakes
- 1 ¼ cups (157 grams) all purpose flour spooned and leveled
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup (113 grams) unsalted butter melted
- ¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon Amoretti toasted coconut extract or coconut extract optional
- 2 eggs room temperature
- ½ cup (120 grams) full fat canned coconut milk shaken/stirred to be combined and smooth
- ⅓ cup (40 grams) sweetened shredded coconut finely chopped
Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 tablespoon key lime zest
- 1 tablespoon key lime juice
- ½ cup (113 grams) unsalted butter room temperature
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 4 cups (480 grams) powdered sugar
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
Coconut Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350F and fill a 12 cup cupcake tin with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- Finely chop the shredded coconut and said aside.
- Melt the butter in a large microwave safe bowl then set aside to cool for five minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Set aside.
- Once the butter has cooled for 5 minutes, add the granulated sugar, vanilla extract, and coconut extract (if using) to the butter and whisk to combine. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking well in between each addition.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until almost fully mixed in. Add half of the coconut milk and whisk until almost combined. Repeat this with the other halves of the dry ingredients and the coconut milk, then mix until you have a smooth batter.
- Add the shredded coconut to the batter and fold to combine.
- Fill the cupcake liners half way up with batter. You don’t want to over-fill, otherwise the cupcakes may come out looking like muffins.
- Bake the cupcakes for 15-17 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting
- Gently zest your key limes making sure to not get any of the white pith. You only want to zest the green part - the white layer underneath is bitter and won’t taste good in your frosting.
- Then, juice the limes and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese on medium-high speed until combined and smooth.
- Add the lime zest, lime juice, salt, and one cup of the powdered sugar and beat until combined - starting at low speed so the sugar doesn’t fly out of the bowl, then bumping it up to high speed. Continue to add one cup of powdered sugar add a time and repeat. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Once the sugar is fully mixed in, beat the frosting for 1-2 minutes on high speed. This will fluff up the mixture making for the perfect texture.
- Frost the cupcakes and enjoy!
Notes
- The cupcake batter does not have any salt added to it because the coconut milk and shredded coconut have enough sodium to do the trick.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!