Visit the tropics any time of the year with these Piña colada cupcakes brimming with crushed pineapple and textured coconut. Top each sweet cake with coconut buttercream for the perfect balance of sweetness and flavour.
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Why This Recipe Works
These little cakes taste just like Summer.
More an Autumn or Winter person? Try my pumpkin cupcakes, black velvet cupcakes or the best vegan chocolate cupcakes ever.
You know what, you should go ahead and make my vanilla cupcakes while you're at it.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Pineapple is the hero of the story. I used canned crushed pineapple because it's available year round and so convenient. When in season, you can use fresh pineapple. Chop it well and then pulse it with an immersion blender to a textured puree
Coconut. To balance the summery sweetness of the pineapple, desiccated coconut provides buttery flavour and a subtle texture. I recommend sticking with desiccated coconut, not flakes or shreds which will overpower the texture of the cake.
Dairy-free milk. I am pretty faithful to a good soy milk in all my baking but you could use oat or almond. I would steer clear of coconut milk to avoid messing with the flavour balance.
Sugar. White or raw caster sugar is great for baking or a fine granulated works here too.
Sunflower oil. I love baking with sunflower oil but any neutral oil works. Oil rather than butter creates a moist cake that lasts for days.
Salt. Always salt. Always. Salt in the cake brings out the pineapple flavours while a touch of salt in the buttercream brings out the coconut.
How to Make Piña Colada Cupcakes
You'll find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
I love how simple it is to bring the taste of Summer to your kitchen any month of the year. Let's do it.
Step 1.
Preheat the oven to 175 ºC and line a 12-cup cupcake pan with silicon or regular cake liners.
Then, go ahead and transfer the pineapple to a mixing bowl and using an immersion blender, break down the larger chunks of fruit to smaller pieces (you can skip this, but you will come across pieces of fruit in your cupcakes). I loved it; my daughter didn't 🙁
Add the milk, sugar, oil and vanilla to the pineapple and stir well to combine.
Step 2.
In a separate mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and coconut.
Step 3.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Spoon the batter into the lined moulds two-thirds of the way up and pop in the oven to bake for 22-25 minutes or until cooked through. Remove to cool completely.
You're so nearly done.
Step 4.
To make the buttercream, add the vegan butter to a large mixing bowl and us an electric hand mixer to cream it until light and fluffy – about 1 minute. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
Add the icing sugar/confectioner's sugar in half-cup measurements and continue mixing until well combined and fluffy, scraping down sides as needed. Add the coconut milk and salt and continue beating, adding more icing sugar if needed.
Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag and pipe onto the completely cooled pineapple cupcakes to serve.
Ta Da! You're done.
FAQs
Surely. Just swap all-purpose flour with a good baker's gluten free flour like Bob's Red Mill.
Yup! Bake them, cool them (completely), wrap them in foil and freeze them in a freezer bag or container for up to 3 months. Thaw them at room temperature for a few hours before frosting.
Stored in a airtight container in a cool dry place, these cupcakes will stay moist and yum for up to 5 days.
Never Enough Vegan Cupcakes
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Make This Recipe
Piña Colada Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- 227 g canned crushed pineapple
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- ½ cup desiccated coconut
- ½ cup dairy-free milk
- 1 cup sugar I use raw caster sugar but granulated is fine
- ⅓ cup sunflower oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For the coconut buttercream
- ¾ cup vegan butter softened at room temperature
- 2½ cups confectioner's sugar icing sugar (add more if needed)
- 3 tablespoon coconut cream
- pinch fine salt
Instructions
For the cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 175 ºC and line a 12-cup cupcake pan with silicon or regular cake liners
- Transfer the pineapple to a mixing bowl and using an immersion blender, break down the larger chunks of fruit to smaller pieces (you can skip this, but you will come across pieces of fruit in your cupcakes).
- In a separate mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt and coconut. Add the milk, sugar, oil and vanilla to the pineapple and stir well to combine.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until just combined. Spoon the batter into the lined moulds two-thirds of the way up and pop in the oven to bake for 22-25 minutes or until cooked through. Remove to cool completely.
For the coconut buttercream
- Add the butter to a large mixing bowl and us an electric hand mixer to cream it until light and fluffy – about 1 minute. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
- Add the icing sugar in half-cup measurements and continue mixing until well combined and fluffy, scraping down sides as needed.
- Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag and pipe onto the completely cooled cupcakes to serve.
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