You know when you volunteer to bring treats to work, and instead of making it easy on yourself and preparing the various components of said treat over a few days, you procrastinate and something inevitably takes longer than it should and you end up frosting cupcakes at 11 pm with your kitchen looking like this? (Is this just me?)

I made these cupcakes for a birthday celebration for several co-workers, and it happened that one of the birthday girls can’t eat dairy. This dietary restriction can sometimes throw a wrench in my plans because butter is a pretty integral ingredient to a lot of my favourite baked goods. But when you consider dairy alternatives such as coconut milk and coconut oil and the various flavour possibilities they bring, that wrench can turn into a catalyst instead.

So, I decided to make coconut cupcakes. I found a recipe that already used coconut milk (and that made the batter in the food processor, which was easy and genius!), and I replaced the butter with solid, room temperature coconut oil. I also added some lime zest for a little brightness, and I filled the baked cupcakes with a dollop of raspberry jam. I was stumped on the frosting for a bit – it’s really hard to make a buttercream without butter (and margarine just doesn’t cut it, sorry) – until I remembered 7-minute frosting, which is a cooked meringue whipped into ethereal clouds of marshmallow-y goodness, no butter required.

Everything was all well and good until the 7-minute frosting part, which you are supposed to whip over a double boiler for 7 minutes, as the name suggests. Try as I might, mine did not come together in 7 minutes, but rather took about three times as long to stiffen up into a pipeable meringue – hence frosting cupcakes at 11 pm. I blame my little handheld electric whisk for not generating enough power, so I had to alternate back and forth between double boiler and stand mixer, but eventually it came together successfully.

The end result got great reviews: the cupcake itself was light and delicious, the raspberry jam was a nice surprise, and everyone loved the frosting. I mean, it’s hard to go wrong with a homemade cupcake, but these ones were pretty darn good.

Coconut Lime Cupcakes with Raspberry Jam and 7(ish)-Minute Frosting

Makes 18 cupcakes. Click here for a printable PDF of the recipe.

Cupcakes

Adapted from A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman

Preheat the oven to 375˚F (350˚F convection) with the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line 18 muffin cups with cupcake liners, then spray lightly with baking spray (optional, but good insurance!).

In the bowl of a food processor, combine:

1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar

grated zest of 1 lime

Pulverize for 1-2 minutes, until finely ground and fragrant.

Add 3/4 cup solid coconut oil, at room temperature, and pulse until creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

One at a time, process in 3 large eggs, at room temperature, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times.

Once the eggs are incorporated, mix in:

1 tsp coconut extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

In a bowl, whisk together:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Add to the food processor bowl and pulse a few times to blend a bit.

Add 3/4 cup chilled coconut milk and blend well until smooth. Finally, add 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut and pulse briefly to incorporate.

Scoop batter evenly into the 18 prepared muffin cups. Place on the racks in the oven (int he upper and lower thirds of the oven) and immediately lower the temperature to 350˚F (325˚F convection). Bake for about 25 minutes, rotating the cupcakes from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking time, until golden on top and the cupcakes spring back when gently pressed.

Cool the cupcakes in the muffin tins for a few minutes, then remove and cool completely on a rack.

Once cool, poke a hole in the top of each cupcake using a paring knife. Place a scant 1/2 cup raspberry jam in a piping bag fitted with a medium round tip, then pipe about 1 teaspoon of jam into the middle of each cupcake.

7(ish)-Minute Frosting

Recipe from King Arthur Flour. This is one-and-a-half times the recipe as I made it, because I was a little short on frosting. This amount will give you plenty for 18 cupcakes.

In a medium-sized metal bowl, combine:

2 1/4 cups granulated white sugar

1/3 cup + 2 1/2 tbsp cold water

3 large egg whites

1 tbsp corn syrup or 3/8 tsp cream of tartar

pinch salt

Mix with an electric beater to combine, then set the bowl over top of a pan of gently simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water). Beat the mixture on high speed and cook over the double boiler for about 7 minutes, until the mixture is glossy and thick enough for stiff peaks (depending on the oomph of your electric mixer, this may take longer than 7 minutes… just be patient!).

Once thick and glossy, remove from the heat, add 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and beat for another 2 minutes (at this point I switched to using my stand mixer).

Scoop the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe little kisses of frosting on top of the cooled cupcakes. Start with a ring of kisses around the outside of the cupcake, then fill in the middle.

Before the frosting has a chance to set/dry, sprinkle the cupcakes with grated lime zest and some toasted shredded coconut.

These cupcakes will keep for up to one day in an airtight container at room temperature.