Pina Colada Cupcakes

Dave had his ukulele group meeting over the weekend (the cupcakes I made one year ago for the groups yearly anniversary were my very first blog post! click here to read that one and see how pretty those cupcakes turned out) and to celebrate another year of the group going strong he asked me to make cupcakes again - actually he asked me to make the coconut cream cupcakes that I made for his birthday again (click here for that post, really they are fantastic!) but I told him that I'd rather experiment with something new. I asked if coconut pineapple would be ok with him - like a pina colada - and he agreed.

Cupcakes:

• yellow cake mix
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup pineapple juice
• 8 oz crushed pineapple, undrained
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract

Mix and bake according to directions on the box.

Frosting:

• 1.5 sticks unsalted butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• 2-3 Tablespoons whipping cream (or as much as needed to get the consistency you want)
• pinch of salt

Beat the butter in a mixing bowl until smooth, slowly add the powdered sugar and other ingredients - using just a little cream at a time until it's right, beat until smooth and fluffy.

I put the frosting in a decorating bag fitted with a round # tip. Pipe the frosting out in a spiral, starting in the middle and going around. For some I rolled the edges in shredded coconut, some I decorated with sprinkles, and some I left plain. Top however many of them you want with a well drained maraschino cherry. So pretty.

Note: Dave said these were a huge hit, once again he didn't bring any home and I always feel like that's a good sign except I didn't get to try one to see how it turned out! He thought they were moist and liked them, except "not as much as the coconut cream" ;). Oh no, I've spoiled him from liking any other cupcake better then those haha!!

Mini Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I have made individual pineapple upside down cakes before using a regular sized muffin pan, this time I decided to try making them in my mini muffin pan - they turned out exactly as I hoped and since they are so little you can eat a couple and not feel too guilty (or save room for other dessert if you make these for a dessert buffet)! 

Preheat oven 350'. Spray the muffin pan with non stick spray, put a little butter in each cup and stick in the oven until it melts, remove from oven and mix a little brown sugar in with melted butter (I didn't measure, just wing that part). Top that with a maraschino cherry and 1Tablespoon drained crushed pineapple. (The picture below is me putting the pineapple over the cherry). For the cake batter I used a small Jiffy cake mix (follow directions on the box for mixing into a batter) and poured over the pineapple, bake for 10 - 12 minutes until cake is done. Let the cake cool for a couple minutes before removing from pan, but don't let it set too long or the sugar hardens onto the pan. Run a knife around the edge of cakes, put a sheet pan over the muffin pan and invert onto the sheet pan. Any pineapple/brown sugar that stuck to the pan I just spooned out and filled in any cupcakes that needed it.