Mini Coconut Lime Cupcakes (with recipe!)

Hello Cupcakes Take the Cake readers!  My name is Betsy Eves and I am the writer of the blog JavaCupcake.com! I have been given this amazing opportunity to write a post for you!  So, I've decided to share with you my most recent cupcake creation... the Mini Coconut Lime Cupcakes! I'm super excited to share this recipe with you! Thank you to Nichelle and the ladies of Cupcake Takes the Cake for this opportunity!

These cupcakes were an inspiration from my Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes that I made earlier this year.  The lemon zest infused in the sugar with the lemon juice in the batter and more lemon zest and juice in the buttercream was such an amazing combination that I knew I wanted to reproduce that with LIMES!

But, I thought to myself... what goes with limes?  I did a little research online and saw some coconut and lime paired together in other recipes and thought BINGO! That's it!  Coconut Lime! Perfect! And even better.... TOASTED coconut!

The recipe is a basic one, but with lots of steps! Assembly is fun and I love that the coconut covers up an imperfections in your piping of the buttercream!  Enjoy!

JavaCupcake's Coconut Lime Mini Cupcakes

A lime infused cupcake baked with toasted coconut and topped with lime buttercream, toasted coconut and a fresh lime wedge.  

Makes approx 48 mini’s and one dozen (12) regular size cupcakes

Cupcakes:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

Zest of one lime

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 ½ tps baking soda

1 ½ tsp salt

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla

¾ cup milk

The juice of one lime

¾ cup Toasted Coconut + 2 cups for garnish

Lime mini wedges

Green food coloring

1. Preheat oven to BROIL. 
2. Line cupcake pans with liners.
3. On an ungreased cookie sheet, lay coconut spread out on sheet.  Put in the oven and broil until about 1/5 of the coconut has browned.  Move around the coconut after 30 seconds to get more even browning. Watch carefully and DO NOT OVER TOAST!!!!! It should only take a minute or two. Set aside to cool.
4. Turn oven down to 300 degrees.
5. Measure sugar into a medium bowl.
6. Prepare the sugar by working the lime zest into sugar by pressing the back of a spatula down into sugar, thus releasing the oils from the zest into the sugar.  This process should take about five minutes, and the sugar will become very fragrant.  
7. Cream the butter for 2-3 minutes using electric mixer and the paddle attachment.  Add the sugar to the butter mixture and continue creaming until fluffy.
8. While butter/sugar are creaming, in another bowl sift together flour, salt baking soda and baking powder and set aside. Sift at least twice to ensure all ingredients are combined.
9. Add eggs one at a time to butter and sugar, mixing thoroughly after each egg.
10. In a measuring cup that pours, mix together the milk, lime juice and vanilla. 
11. SLOWLY alternate adding the flour and milk mixture to the butter/sugar.  Begin and end with the flour and make sure to mix very well after each addition. Do not over mix.
12. Fold in the toasted coconut.
13. Add 6-10 drops of green food coloring and fold in until you get the desired green color you want.
14. Fill liners 1/2 full with batter.  DO NOT OVER FILL!!!
15. For Minis: Bake for 8 minutes and rotate pan 180 degrees in oven. Bake another 2-3 minutes.
16. For Regular: Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes and rotate pan 180 degrees in oven.  Bake another 3-5 minutes.
17. Cool in pans for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to completely cool.

Lime Buttercream:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 lbs (approx 6 cups) powdered sugar

1/4 -1/2 cup milk

Zest of a lime

Juice of a lime

1 tbsp light corn syrup

Mini lime wedges 

1. In an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter.
2. One cup at a time, add the powdered sugar.  Between each cup, add a splash of milk.   Mix until smooth & scrape down the sides after each addition
3. Before the last cup of sugar, add the zest and juice of the lime.  Mix until smooth.
4. Add the corn syrup.
5. Add any remaining milk until you get the texture and consistency you want. 
6. Mix on high for 4-5 minutes.

To Assemble:

1. Pipe a dollop of buttercream on the cupcake.
2. Dunk the cupcake upside down in the toasted coconut.
3. Top with a small lime wedge.