Okay, so on some summery days all you want is to sit in the sun with a yummy cocktail. One of my favourite cocktails has got to be the classic pina colada. For the days when relaxing with the genuine thing isn't possible, these cupcakes make a pretty good alternative!
I started this by using the usual vanilla cupcake recipe that I usually use. Before baking I mixed through some crushed pineapple (about 2-3 tablespoons) to make sure the sponge had a good pineappley flavour. If you don't like fruit in cupcakes then you could leave it out and rely on the icing for the pina colada flavour but I really like fresh fruit in cake and think that it helps to make it a pina colada cupcake, rather than a plain vanilla cake with interesting frosting (not that there's anything wrong with that!). If you want to add some coconut into the cake then that's fine too, although I relied on the covering of coconut on the top of it for my coconut fix. I did however add a few tablespoons of coconut rum into the sponge but again, if you wanted to leave this out there's enough desiccated coconut on the icing to give it the 'colada' feel.
While the pineapple cupcakes were in the oven baking, I set about making the icing. I made the regular vanilla buttercream that I usually do (on a previous post) and added a few tablespoons of Pineapple Sourz liqueur. You can add it to taste but I added a fair amount (probably due to being a student!) to make sure the icing was undoubtedly pineapple. I didn't colour it initially, so left it white so that I could flat ice the cupcakes when cool.
When the cakes were completely cool, I covered them in the pineapple flavoured icing so that they were flat. I usually do this by putting a large 'blob' of icing in the middle of the cake and then use a small spatula to spread it out flat from the centre out by using gentle strokes from the middle of the cake direct to the edge of the cake case. Be sure to get the icing into all the ridges of your cupcake case!
Once the icing was flat on the cakes (don't be too fussy about it, it doesn't need to be perfect because you'll be covering it up anyway), put some desiccated coconut into a shallow dish. Put each cake into the coconut 'head first' so that the coconut sticks to the buttercream. Gently swirl the cakes into it if necessary to make sure that they get a good coconutty covering.
Once the cakes have all been flat iced and coconut-covered, add a few drops of yellow food dye into the remaining buttercream. This isn't necessary but I love the contrast with the white coconut rather than the whole cupcake being white. Fill up a piping bag fitted with a star shaped nozzle and pipe a small swirl onto the top of each cake. I start with the piping bag on the far edge of the cupcake and pipe in an anti-clockwise swirl, narrowing with each time round to make the tip.
I had some jelly beans which came in random flavours (I think they were JellyBelly beans) and picked out the pineapple, coconut and pina colada flavoured ones to use as decorations on the top. They're not essential but I really think they finish the cupcakes off well and look really cute.
I'm sure there are plenty of variations out there of the good old pina colada cupcake but this was my experimental and 'make it up as you go along' version. I just used things that I had to hand to improvise with the recipe but I think it worked out quite well. You'll notice that there's only 9 in the photo from a batch of 12. The three that 'went missing' between finishing off with the jelly beans and taking the picture would suggest that other people thought they were a success too!!
I really hope you try this and it puts a big smile on your face as it did mine :)
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