Coconut Cupcakes
By: Anonymous
Published: Thursday, February 11, 2010 - 7:27pm

Ingredients




cup sugar divided
1 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg
pound unsalted butter - (2 sticks)
cup cream of coconut powder
cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 tablespoon almond extract
3 cups self-rising flour
10 lrgs egg whites divided
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
(thick strips preferred)

Preparation

1 Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place paper liners in muffin tins. 2 Blend together three-fourths cup of the sugar and the nutmeg in a small bowl and set aside. 3 To make the batter, cream the butter, coconut powder and 1 cup of the remaining sugar in an electric mixer fitted with a flat paddle. 4 Mix together the coconut milk and almond extract. Alternate additions of the flour and the coconut milk to the butter mixture, beating until smooth. 5 In a separate bowl, whip 8 egg whites with one-half cup of the remaining sugar until they form soft peaks. Fold a third of the whipped egg whites into the batter. Add the remaining whipped egg whites and fold until thoroughly combined. 6 Fill the tins three-fourths full with batter. Sprinkle each cupcake with one teaspoon of the sugar-nutmeg mixture. 7 To make the topping, stir together the remaining 2 egg whites, the shredded coconut, and 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Evenly spread the topping on each cake. 8 Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean and the tops are golden. Cool the cupcakes and then remove them from the muffin tins. 9 This recipe yields 24 cupcakes. 10 Comments: Cream of coconut powder from Thailand is available in Asian markets.