Coconut Cupcakes

psych0kitty · March 2013

I got this idea from the cake mix + pumpkin puree recipes floating around. Coconut cake is an Easter tradition in my family and I wanted to try and lighten it up! This recipe makes 18-24 cupcakes; my nutrition calculations are for 18 cupcakes using 1/2 C shredded coconut.

Nutrition for one cupcake:
165 kcal
8.0 g fat
21.4 g carbs
0.9 g fiber
2.6 g protein

Cake Ingredients:
1 box white cake mix (I used Pillsbury because it has slightly fewer calories than other brands)
1 can coconut milk (you could use light coconut milk, but the calorie difference isn't huge and I prefer the real thing)
2 eggs

Frosting Ingredients:
8 oz fromage blanc*
4 T butter, softened (because nothin' beats butter... I considered using coconut oil, but I don't think the consistency would work)
1/4 C powdered sugar
1/4-1/2 C unsweetened shredded coconut

Directions:
For the cake: Preheat oven to the temperature listed on the box of cake mix. Combine cake mix, coconut milk, and eggs in a large bowl. With a hand-mixer, beat the batter on medium speed for 2 minutes. Scoop the batter into greased or paper-lined cupcake tins and bake for about 20 minutes (you may want to check them at 18), until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting them. For the record, the cupcakes by themselves are delectable.

For the frosting: Using a hand-mixer or food processor, combine the fromage blanc, softened butter, and powdered sugar very well. Make sure the fromage blanc comes straight out of the refrigerator and if the frosting becomes loose during mixing, just put it in the fridge to re-set. You can either fold the coconut into the frosting or sprinkle it on top after frosting the cupcakes. I recommend keeping the frosting chilled until just before eating the cupcakes, and keeping the leftovers in the fridge (you would do that if you used cream cheese, too).

*Fromage blanc is a French-style skim milk "cheese." It can be difficult to find, but some Whole Foods Markets carry it. It has simple ingredients and a good flavor, but is a little tricky to work with because when it warms up the consistency changes from cream cheesy to sour creamy. You could use neufchatel or cream cheese, but the calorie count will be higher. I would not use fat-free cream cheese simply because I think it's gross. If you like it, then by all means, use that. Apparently, quark cheese is very similar to fromage blanc, so if you're of the persuasion, you could use that. And now that I'm thinking about it, you could strain your Greek yogurt for about 4 hours to make yogurt cheese.

I'll post a picture later after I frost a bunch of them to take to dinner.