Coconut Advent Wreath Cupcakes

Coconut Advent Wreath Cupcakes

I was going to make these with anise, but discovered at the last moment that I didn't have any, so I switched back to coconut, my old friend. The cupcakes are delicious, moist and kind of buttery, despite not having a huge amount of butter in them.

Some of the folks who read this blog know that I would like to be a priest, so celebrating Advent via cupcakes is right on trend! The traditional Episcopalian Advent wreath needs three blue or purple candles and one pink. Optionally there can also be a white candle in the middle of the wreath. For Advent One, which is today, you would light one of the purple candles.

Almond Cupcakes:

3/4 cup cake flour

3/4 cup regular flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into small cubes

2 eggs

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla paste

2 tsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Sift together both flours, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Add in butter cubes and blend on medium speed until the batter forms crumbs (this may take a while). Make sure there are no big chunks of butter left.

Add eggs, one at a time.

Add the vanilla and almond extract to your heavy cream, then pour slowly into the batter. Mix well.

Fill cupcake tins about 2/3 full. Mine overflowed slightly, but it's easy to trim the cupcakes using a small serrated knife to even things out.

The recipe recommends baking for "17-20" minutes. Mine took closer to 35 minutes altogether. So: Bake for 15 minutes, turn tin, bake for 20 minutes.

Let cool.

Makes 12.

Frosting:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2 cups xxx sugar

2-3 tbsp heavy cream

2 tsp coconut extract

Whip butter for about six minutes, until fluffy. Add cream and sugar and extract and whip until all the ingredients are combined and the frosting is very light and fluffy.

Frost cupcakes generously.

To decorate:

1 cup shredded coconut

Food dye

Purple and pink candles

To dye coconut, you just put it in a bowl, add 2-3 drops of food coloring, and then mix with your hands until it reaches the color you want. If you use a lot of color, you may have to let it dry for a little bit.

I used long taper candles and cut them down to the size I wanted:

Pat the coconut on the cupcakes in a circle, leaving a clear center. 

Place the candles around the center.

Light the first candle to get really in the spirit of things!

Recipe adapted from Sweetapolita.