Jun 10, 2012, Updated Mar 10, 2024 I co-hosted a baby shower for her a couple of weekends ago. She opted to keep the baby’s sex a surprise, so rather than exhausting ourselves with originality, her mom and I went with classic, gender-neutral yellow as the party’s theme colour. Yellow balloons, yellow duckies, yellow cupcakes. These cupcakes have a double hit of coconut: sweet, creamy coconut milk as the liquid; and fragrant, nutty toasted coconut folded in. Toasting the coconut, although it is an extra bit or work, is absolutely worth the effort. It makes a huge flavour impact. The lemon curd filling is not the traditional version. I used my no-fail method that includes thickening water with cornstarch before adding egg yolks and lemon. It’s a bit less rich, but just as tart, creamy and delicious. It’s more along the vein of lemon pudding. You may be tempted to lick the bowl clean before the cupcakes are out of the oven. Hide it in the back of your fridge. The icing on the cake is a billowing, marshmallow-y 7-minute frosting that nudges the whole situation into tropical-lemon-meringue territory. It is also my favourite topper for moist chocolate cake.
Ingredients
For cupcakes:
2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut, separated 3 cups (13.5 ounces/400 grams) all purpose flour 1 tbsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 cup butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar 3 large eggs, room temperature 1 tbsp vanilla extract 1 2/3 cups coconut milk (1-398 mL/13 oz can)
For lemon filling:
3 tbsp corn starch 1 cup cold water 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten 3 tbsp (1.5 ounces) cold butter, cut in small chunks 1 tbsp lemon zest 3 tbsp lemon juice
For frosting:
2 egg whites 1/3 cup water 1 1/3 cup granulated sugar 1/4 tsp cream of tartar 1 tsp vanilla extract
Preparation
To make cupcakes: To make curd: To make frosting:
