Coconut Cupcakes & Red Velvet's

Coconut Cupcakes with seven minute frosting - I made these because they look delicious, and a friend told me that she loves coconut - so I offered to bring her some today...but still haven't heard back from her!

These cupcakes were pretty simple to make...unique ingredients are coconut milk, coconut extract, and flaked coconut as well as shredded coconut.

So after a quick run to Stony Plain for these less common ingredients I made these fairly quickly. The icing is seven minute icing...Leah had expressed her dislike for this recipe as she had to whip the one bowl while pouring boiling hot syrup in with the other hand...LOL I determined that this isn't really all that bad if you have a stand mixer, which I was lucky enough to get for my birthday this year. I also didn't have a candy thermometer for the side of the pot while boiling the syrup...so I just boiled it for quite some time...just incase!

The frosting tastes like marshmallows with a hint of coconut...and then I topped with more coconut...and then some more frosting, and then more coconut...the recipe makes an insane amount of icing and I didn't know what else to do with it, as it won't keep.

My helper was up to her usual tricks, helping me mix and of course being my taste tester...I would have had some super cute pictures of her eating the icing with her fingers, but my camera battery died and I didn't know where the extra one was...

My husband came home and had one...said it was heaven...I can only imagine as I tasted the frosting and coconut flake combination and it was lovely...perhaps I will have one tomorrow.

So, I had intended on making the Red Velvet cupcakes as well, but I had run out of sugar! My daughter Taylor was having a nice long nap...so it would have been perfect timing to make these, but alas I had to wait until she woke up...which was a whole 15 minutes before my husband came home and we had to run to the city to pick up my car from the dealership from getting serviced.

So, I stopped at the store on my way home and got a LARGE bag of sugar, we came home and ate supper...since I was super wife today and even managed to cook a pot roast (via slow cooker) LOL.

So Taylor is off to bed...husband quick to follow, and I get to bake my Red Velvets. These are my all time favorite cupcakes...the cupcakes that made me love cupcakes...

So I am gathering my ingredients...even managed to get everything to room temperature since I had planned on making them all day! So, in the cupboard I notice a bag...looks an awful lot like the bag of sugar I just picked up...DAMN IT!!! I had sugar all along!!!

SO...I quickly whip up the cake batter...seems very runny...hopefully this is the way it is supposed to be...my taste testers were in bed...so my co workers will be the judges.

I even had Red GEL food coloring...weird! Cupcakes come out looking normal...this is a good sign, but now to make the frosting...

I threw the ingredients in the stand mixer (thank goodness for my new best friend) and after sifting 4 cups of icing sugar, which manages to travel all over the counters and such, add the vanilla...still tastes too sugar like...so I added a squirt of lemon juice and a bit more icing sugar...and voila! I LOVE CREAM CHEESE ICING!!!

So...I iced the cupcakes quickly...and am heading off to bed - I just had to make sure I had this posted before going to bed, or I would likely not be able to post for a while.