Coconut Lime Cupcakes

I love a good citrus dessert, especially when the weather gets warmer and a brownie just doesn't seem to fit. Now don't get me wrong I will NEVER turn down a brownie, ever. But sometimes a refreshing dessert is in order. Hence the Coconut Lime Cupcake...

Coconut Lime Cupcakes
Ingredients
2 cups sugar
zest of 3 limes
3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
6 eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk (make your own with 1 cup of milk and 1 tbs of white vinegar, let sit 5 min)
1/2 bag of sweetened, shredded coconut 


Method
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a cupcake tin with paper liners.


In a medium bowl, combine the sugar and lime zest and mix together with your fingertips until the sugar is moistened and fragrant.

In the bowl of an stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, taking care to scrape the bowl. Add the vanilla and mix until well combined. 


In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 


 Alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in 7 ounces (half) of the shredded coconut.


Fill each prepared cupcake liner to the top with batter. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a baking rack and cool completely. 
Recipe adapted from here

I cheated a little with the frosting. I didn't have the ingredients for it however I did have a can of vanilla in the pantry. So I dumped it into a bowl and squeezed the juice from 1 lime and mixed it well. It came out slightly thin but after I let it cool in the fridge it set up pretty well. If you want to try the original recipe's frosting here is the link

In case you didn't already realize this, it is in no way a low fat recipe however there are times that you really do need three sticks of butter. I think this would also work really well as a bunt cake with a glaze type of frosting.