Cravings: Vanilla Coconut Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting for Two (or One!)

Today as I attempted for the 100th time to rewrite my medical school personal statement I found every excuse not to. I read magazines, finished reading Americanah (I will be posting a review on this soon!) and even watched Saved by the Bell, a childhood favorite of mine. When I could find no other excuses, I finally decided to satisfy the craving for sweets I’ve been ignoring for days. I didn’t want to make a whole batch of cupcakes because I knew I might eat them all, so I searched and found this recipe for One Bowl Vanilla Cupcakes for Two from Jessica at howsweeteats.com. However, I wasn’t in the mood for just plain vanilla and decided to experiment and this is what I came up with: 

Vanilla Coconut Cupcake with Lemon Frosting

To add my twist, I just substituted coconut oil for butter and added about 1 tsp of coconut flakes. I didn’t follow the directions exactly, (I dumped everything into the bowl and did one big mix) but they still came out very moist and tasty! The recipe for lemon frosting I found elsewhere, but I found it cloying. In the future, (because I do plan to make these again!) I will do half-frosting and half-whipped cream to cut the sweetness and make the frosting lighter, which is what I prefer. Here is the recipe as I made it:

Vanilla Coconut Cupcake with Lemon Frosting (Serves 1-2)

Cupcake:

1 Egg White

2 T Sugar

2 T Coconut Oil, melted

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

¼ Cup Flour

1 T Coconut Flakes/Shredded Coconut

¼ tsp Baking Powder (heaping)

Pinch of salt

2 T Milk

Frosting:

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

½ tsp lemon zest (Zest of one lemon for me!)

1 T softened butter

½ T Water and 1 T Lemon Juice combined

Pinch of salt

*To lighten, use only ½ of recipe and cut with ½ cup of whipped topping

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with two cupcake liners

2. Whip egg white and sugar in bowl

3. Mix in melted coconut oil and vanilla

4. Add flower, salt, baking powder and coconut flakes and mix

5. Add milk and mix until smooth, then divide batter evenly into the lined cups

6. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until done (do the toothpick test), remove from oven and allow to cool for frosting

To make frosting:

Cream lemon zest and butter in bowl. Mix in half of the powdered sugar. Then, mix in half of the water/lemon juice combo. Repeat with the remaining sugar and liquid.*

*If making the lightened version, you will only do this step once and then add the whipped topping.

I frosted after about 20 minutes using a sandwich bag I with a hole cut into its corner. Yields two cupcakes.

Bon Appétit!