Almond Joy Cupcakes
By: BigFatBaker
Published: Friday, April 1, 2011 - 8:15pm

Ingredients




Cupcake Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 teaspoons almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour
Frosting Ingredients:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room tempature
2 tablespoons shortening
4 cups powdered sugar*
3/4 cup cocoa powder*
1 teaspoon coconut extract
6 tablespoons milk*
1 cup shredded coconut to toast for decoration

Preparation

1 Line the cupcake pans, and preheat the oven to 375ºF. 2 Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. 3 Mix in the eggs, extracts, and milk. 4 In a separate bowl mix together the remaining ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mix, and stir until combined. Hold off on tasting the batter, the almond extract is a little strong and not a good representation of what the final product tastes like. 5 Fill each cupcake 2/3 full, and bake for 12-30 minutes. The time will vary with the amount of batter in your liners. My flower cupcake wrappers were HUGE and took almost a full 30 minutes, while the minis only took about 12 minutes to bake. 6 Remove from the oven when an inserted toothpick comes out clean. 7 To Make the Frosting: 8 Beat the butter and shortening together until smooth. 9 Mix in the coconut and powdered sugar. 10 Add the milk until you reach your desired consistency. 11 Toast the coconut at 350ºF for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 12 Once the cupcakes have cooled, frost them and sprinkle with the toasted coconut.