#22 Coconut Snowball Cupcakes

In honor of having the coldest November to date since 1985 I thought snowball cupcakes were appropriate! For all you coconut lovers these were pretty amazing. This was the first time I've used beaten egg whites in a recipe and the out come was a little interesting. They were delightfully sweet (in a coconut sweet way), they felt a little on the heavy side but the cake was actually very delicate and the texture of the cake was slightly chewy kind of like a macaroon cookie. With the suggestion from my mom I went with a Bavarian like filling and topped them with Swiss meringue buttercream and coconut shavings. So while the wind is blowing and making it feel like -1 outside I stay in and make these instead. At least these snowballs wont give you frostbite!!!


Coconut Snowball Cupcakes (Courtesy of Jacki's Bento Blog)

The Goods
3cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup coconut cream
8oz butter room temp
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon coconut extract
4 egg whites

The How To
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place and whisk flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl and set aside. Combine the coconut milk and coconut cream in a small bowl and set aside for later.

Put the butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium speed until fluffy about 1 min. Decrease the speed to low and slowly add sugar over 1-2mins. Once all the sugar has been added turn the mixer back on to medium speed and continue creaming until the mixture becomes lighter in color about 3mins.

just the butter

Sugar and butter after it has been mixed for a couple of mins.

Stir in the coconut extract.



Add the flour mixture alternating with the coconut milk mixture to the butter and sugar in 3 batches, ending with the milk mixture. Don't over mix.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. I used my hand mixer. Fold the egg whites into the batter, just until combined.

my stiff peaks

the batter looks a little wet after adding the egg whites

Fill cupcakes tins about 2/3s full. Bake for about 25 mins rotating half way through. The cupcakes will turn golden brown around the edges and a toothpick should come out clean when stuck into the center of the cupcake. Cool the cupcakes in the pans for 10mins then remove and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

This is the first batch as you can see I didn't rotate these ones and the cupcakes in the back got a little burned :(

Now for the filling! I made mine the night before so it could fully chill.

Bavarian Cream (Courtesy  of cakecentral.com)
This stuff reminds me of doughnut or eclair filling!!

The Goods
8oz cream cheese softened
2 ( about 3.5oz) packages instant pudding mix (I used vanilla)
3/4cup milk
12oz Cool Whip thawed

The How To
Mix together cream cheese and dry pudding on medium speed.

Reminds me of scrambled eggs

Add the milk and beat on medium speed for about 2mins or until lumps have smoothed out.

Mix in the Cool Whip on low speed. Chill for a couple of hours before using.

After the Bavarian Cream has had time to chill, fill in the center of the cupcakes.

For the frosting I went with Martha Stewart's Swiss Meringue Buttercream which I used for my marshmallow turkey cupcakes. The only difference is that I added 1 teaspoon of the coconut extract.

After the frosting has been spread add the sweetened shredded coconut to the top.

I also played around with a couple of different toppers that I had made.

Testing out my chocolate butterflies. Not bad for the first time. These turned out a little thick so next time I need to make the chocolate a little thinner.

I also melted down some jolly ranches and made some snow flakes. With some of the left over frosting I  tested out my rose making skills too. Not too shabby :)

Up Next...

Sweet Potato Cupcakes (for real this time!!)