Week 8 Dish 2: Vegan piña colada cupcakes

For my friends birthday, I decided I finally need to take the plunge and do some decorating! As you can see from my previous posts, I'm not really one for icing and frosting etc. I prefer something yummy, healthy and quick. Though decorations are definitely yummy, they are not healthy and definitely not quick to do. But if there's anything that makes it worth the time, it's a close friends birthday! So here is the recipe for my first alcoholic bake, piña colada cupcakes!

Makes 14-16

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

2 cups plain flour, sifted

1 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup crushed pineapple, drained

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup coconut milk

5 tbsp coconut rum

1 tsp coconut extract

For the icing

1 cup vegan margarine

2 cups sifted icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1 tsp coconut extract

2 tbsp coconut rum

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

Glacé/ maraschino cherries

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and line a muffin tray with cupcake liners. 
2. In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients and leave to one side. 
3. In blender, blend together all the pineapple and other wet ingredients until completely smooth. 
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just combined. Spoon into the cupcake liners and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
5. For the icing, beat all the ingredients except the desiccated coconut and cherries together until smooth and fluffy and pipe onto the cupcakes when they are completely cool. Sprinkle with the desiccated coconut and top with a cherry to decorate. If you have umbrellas, you can use them, or even a pineapple piece! 

Original recipe: Pina colada cupcakes
They look so pretty, don't you think? I'm not the best at piping, but I guess only practice can help with that. Maybe I'll do a few more decorated bakes in the future....