pretty little coconut cupcakes with lime curd

A week or so ago I found a beautifully illustrated cupcake book, Cupcakes, at the book store, which I bought with huge excitement. It really is an amazing addition to my baking library, because her cupcake presentation goes far beyond any baking book I have.

When I tried her coconut-lime cupcakes, I was a little disappointed. I didn't like the texture of the frosting at all, and really preferred my own cupcake recipe. That's what makes cooking interesting, right? For me, it's probably just personal preference. What I adored was her concept of flavors, and "building" the cupcake. You scoop out a little hole in the baked cupcake, and fill it with lime curd, then cover it with a fluffy frosting.

To make her cupcake: ( I didn't feel it tasted super coconutty, so maybe add extract?)

1/3 cup sweetened shredded coconut, plus 1 cup for garnishing

1 cup King Arthur flour

1 1/4 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

3/4 cup sugar, plus 2 T more sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1 large egg

1 large egg white

1 t. vanilla ( I would use coconut and vanilla extracts)

1/2 cup coconut milk ( the liquid, unsweetened kind)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Place cupcake papers in regular size cupcake tin.

In medium bowl, toss coconut, flour, baking powder, and salt. In mixer bowl, beat the sugar and butter until fluffy.

Add the egg, egg white, and vanilla and/or coconut extract and beat. Add the flour mixture in two addiitions, alternating with the coconut milk.

Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin hole up to 3/4 full with batter. It made 9 cupcakes in my tin.

Bake about 29 minutes, or until tops are sfirm when you gently press on tops.

Remove and cool tin 15 minutes on rack, then remove cupcakes to cooling rack for another 45 minutes.

Lime Curd

6 T. fresh lime juice

1/2 cup sugar

4 large egg yolks

salt - pinch

4 T. unsalted butter, cut in pieces

2 t. grated lime zest

In heavy-bottomed nonreactive pan, whisk together the juice, sugar, egg yolks, and salt. Cook over medium heat, wisking constantly until curd thickens and coats a spoon. Remove from heat and set aside. This was really good!

When cupcakes are cool, hollow out a 1 1/2 inch piece from each muffin. Fill with lime curd.

Frosting ( this is my cream cheese frosting recipe)

1 large package cream cheese, softened

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1 t. coconut extract

1 t. fresh lemon juice

1 box confectioners sugar.

Beat together until fluffy, then tint as wished. Using a star tip and pastry bag, pipe frosting in a circle from the outer edge to the center, then pull up. Sprinkle each cupcake with shredded coconut and serve.