Recipe: Easy Coconut & Lime Cupcakes

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you have an ingredient to use, and you're not quite sure how to use it, or even how you ended up having it in the first place. This was the dilemma I faced when Chris came home with a whole fresh coconut last week. Something to do with a long running joke with the guys at work. I wasn't listening to the details, I was staring at a coconut in my fruit bowl!

After lots of Googling on how to even get inside the coconut, I decided to give it a go on Saturday afternoon. Is it worth it? Absolutely not, I do not recommend that anyone buys a fresh whole coconut for this recipe, stick with the pre-desiccated coconut. However, I was quite proud that I managed to hack into it without so much as a scratch on me, I'm quite accident prone so this was a major achievement. Especially when I had to get a screwdriver and a hammer out of the shed to get into it!

See, told you, totally not worth the effort.

So anyways, once I had made my own desiccated coconut, I put it in the fridge and pondered on what to make with it. I knew it was going to be some kind of cake, because you can't go wrong with cake, and when I saw that limes were on offer in the shops I thought the combination would go wonderfully, and actually make me think it's Spring or Summer instead of COLD February.

So here we have it. This recipe is SO easy. Basically bung it all in, wizz away and cook. Therefore, if you're after a recipe to bake with little ones then this could be it! If I had fun sprinkling coconut on the icing afterwards, then they are bound to.

Coconut & Lime Cupcakes Recipe

Makes 12 Cupcakes 

For the cupcakes:
175g self raising flour
140g unsalted butter, at room temperature
140g caster sugar
70g desiccated coconut, plus a little extra for decoration
2 large eggs
4 tbsp milk
1 lime, juice & zest

For the icing:
280g icing sugar
85g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 lime, juice
1 tbsp milk

1. Preheat the oven to 170c and line a 12 hole tray with cupcake cases

2. Put all ingredients for the cupcakes into a food processor and wizz on high for 3-4 minutes or until everything is well combined and the mixture looks soft and fluffy

3. Divide the mixture between the cases, filling them almost to the top and bake for 20-25 minutes (until golden and bouncy when pressed)

4. Leave to cool

5. To make the icing beat together all the ingredients and then spoon or pipe onto the cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle with desiccated coconut to finish

If you're after some more fruity cupcake ideas then why not try my Lemon & Raspberry Cupcakes or my Apple Cupcakes with Maple Syrup Frosting.