A few years ago, I was so fortunate to spend a week and a few days on an island off mainland Belize called Caye Caulker, where I was shooting a wedding and the wedding events. The beauty of the island life is going slow and utilizing what is on the island for consumption, if the island has no limes, well there are no limes that day. There were many days just living the island life; swimming, fishing, long leisurely walks, sailing and gathering coconuts and hacking into them with a machete.
Now, I had tried coconut milk before, but there is nothing like scouring up a tree, hacking into the coconut with a machete and sipping the sweet nectar (straw not included). This article made me long for the island life and have a coconut drink and coconut cupcake, but too bad there was no tree to climb or even a store in my 20-mile radius that carried coconuts.
Coconut Rum Cupcakes
Need:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
- 1/2 vanilla bean
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup coconut milk
- 1/4 cup shredded coconut
- 1/4 cup light rum
How:
Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter, coconut extract, sugar, and eggs, until fluffy. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients to the creamed ingredients, mixing until just combined. Add the milk. Once mixed, add remaining dry ingredients. Finish with adding the light rum and fold in shredded coconut. Pour into cupcake tins and bake for 20-25 mins at 350. Let cool, then frost with coconut rum frosting.
Rum Frosting
Need:
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/2 – 2 lbs powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup light rum
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
How:
Cream butter until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar, alternating with rum and vanilla, until desired consistency is reached.
