Piña Colada Cupcakes
Moist pineapple cupcakes topped with pineapple and coconut, and then covered with a pineapple coconut rum frosting.
Servings: 12 cupcakes
Calories: 518kcal
Equipment
- cupcake pan
- stand or hand mixer
Ingredients
Cake
- ½ stick butter
- ¾ cups brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon cream of coconut
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt Diamond Crystal
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 cups flour
- ½ cup pineapple juice from 20 oz can of crushed pineapple
- ½ cup crushed pineapple drained, from 20 oz can used for topping
Topping
- 20 ounce can crushed pineapple drained, minus the ½ cup for the batter
- ¼ cup shredded coconut
- ½ stick butter melted
- ¼ cup brown sugar
Frosting
- 1 stick butter
- 2 tablespoons pineapple juice from 20 oz can crushed pineapple
- 3 tablespoons cream of coconut
- 1 tablespoon rum optional, see notes
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 12 maraschino cherries
Instructions
- Drain the crushed pineapple, saving the juice for the cake batter.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉ and line cupcake tin with paper liners.
Cupcake Batter
- Beat together butter and sugar.
- Beat in the egg and cream of coconut.
- Combine flour, salt, and baking powder, then add the dry ingredients and pineapple juice in alternating additions, both starting and ending with the flour.
- Stir in crushed pineapple.
- Divide batter evenly among the 12 cupcake liners.
Cupcake Topping
- On top the batter in each cup add 1 tablespoon of crushed pineapple then 1 teaspoon of shredded coconut.
- Combine melted butter and brown sugar and drizzle over the top of each.
- Bake about 18 minutes, then cool completely.
Buttercream Frosting
- While the cupcakes are cooling, beat the butter until smooth. Add the remaining frosting ingredients and beat until desired consistency. (See tips and tricks in the post above).
- Spread or pipe onto cooled cupcakes, top with a maraschino cherry, add extra toasted coconut, if desired, and enjoy!
Notes
Ingredient Notes:
Coconut extract can be used in place of cream of coconut, but the measurements will need to be reduced quite a bit. Taste as you go to ensure it's not too much!
The rum can be replaced with equal measurements of pineapple juice to keep these non-alcoholic. To make these extra boozy, soak the cherries in rum overnight before topping.
Variations:
These cupcakes are also delicious without the frosting, so feel free to skip it or to top them with whipped cream instead of frosting for a lighter touch of sweetness.
These can also be made as piña colada upside down cupcake. To do this, do not use cupcake liners and instead spray the pan with non-stick spray. After preparing the cake batter, before putting it in the pan, first put into the bottom of each cup 1 teaspoon melted butter, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, 1 maraschino cherry without the stem, 1 teaspoon coconut, and then 1 tablespoon crushed pineapple. Press into the bottom of the tin, then scoop cupcake batter on top, filling a little more than ¾ full and bake 15-18 minutes.
Tip:
Put a few kernels of rice into the cupcake pan before the liners to make the cupcakes easier to remove from the pan and to help prevent the outside of the cupcake liner from getting greasy.
Nutrition
Calories: 518kcal | Carbohydrates: 89g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 54mg | Sodium: 291mg | Potassium: 123mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 71g | Vitamin A: 516IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 65mg | Iron: 1mg
