Vanilla Cupcakes with Toasted Coconut

When your husband (who’s not really a sweet eater) asks for Vanilla Cupcakes with Coconut for his Birthday, you get right on that! These vegan, gluten free and refined sugar free cupcakes (ok the icing is not sugar free but come on….it’s his birthday!) may have more of a muffin like texture (which could make them great for breakfast minus the icing!) but they were a winner in our household! They were super quick to make, they baked up beautifully and they were devoured equally as quickly!

Cupcake Ingredients

2 2/3 cups of Bobs Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Flour

1 1/4 cups Coconut Sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup coconut oil

2 cups almond milk (or any plant based milk)

1 tsp vanilla

Icing/Topping Ingredients

1/4 cup coconut cream (stick a can of full fat coconut milk in the fridge overnight so the cream separates from the water, you only want the cream for this recipe)

2 cups confectioners sugar

1/4 tsp coconut extract

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup coconut flakes toasted (sprinkle the flakes on a baking sheet and bake at 300 for 2-3min or until toasted, be careful not to burn!)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare a cupcake pan with cupcake liners (I prefer the foil liners so they don’t stick to the cupcakes) In a large bowl mix, dry cupcake ingredients and set aside. In a smaller bowl mix wet cupcake ingredients and then add them to the dry and mix until well combined and smooth. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 20-25 min or until the tops spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on a bakers rack.

Prepare the icing by combining the coconut cream, vanilla and coconut extracts in a bowl and blend with a hand mixer until smooth. Add the confectioners sugar a little at a time until the icing reaches the desired consistency. Spread a generous layer of icing on each cupcake and dip into toasted coconut.