raspberry coconut cupcakes

I made these adorable raspberry coconut cupcakes for an Oscar party I went to on Sunday. These classy little froufrou cupcakes won Best Dessert of the soiree! I adapted this recipe and my banana caramel cupcake recipe from a great little cookbook Cupcakes by Pamela Clark.

Raspberry Coconut Cupcake aka Froufrou Cupcake



Ingredients
For Cupcakes:
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup self-rising flour
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (if you can't find UNsweetened, just rinse some sweetened shredded coconut in warm water and let dry at least 12 hours)
1/3 cup sour cream
5 ounces frozen raspberries

Cream Cheese Frosting:
5 tablespoons butter, softened
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons coconut extract
3 cups powered sugar

Decorations:
1 cup flaked coconut (if you can't find this, do the same as the coconut above), toasted
35-45 fresh raspberries



1. Pre-heat over to 350 degrees. Line a standard muffin tin with paper baking cups.

2. Beat butter, sugar, and eggs in a blender until light and fluffy.





3. Stir in sifted flours, coconut, sour cream, and frozen raspberries. The batter should be a light pink from the broken up raspberries (there should be large chunks of the berries, too). Divide mixture among baking cups and smooth the surface. The batter should fill the cup about three-quarters of the way.





4. Bake for approximately 40 minutes or until golden brown. Turn cakes onto wire rake to cool. Only 11 of my cupcakes made it past this stage thanks to the cupcake monster who lives in my house and eats all my cupcakes before they're even done. Thanks, Dad.



5. Make cream cheese frosting: Beat butter, cream cheese, and coconut extract in a blender until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sifted powdered sugar.



6. Remove baking cups from cakes, spread cakes with frosting.

7. Decorate the side of the cupcakes with toasted coconut and top with 3-4 raspberries.



These cupcakes smell so delicious baking! And, of course, they taste delicious, too. The coconut cream cheese frosting is to die for, I seriously want to slather it on everything I eat.

I had some extra batter left over after filling the baking cups, so I just made a few extra mini-cupcakes using a mini cupcake pan. My little sister swore these were better than the larger version, but I think by better she just meant "cuter." Everything is cuter mini, right?