On Saturday mornings, my boyfriend sometimes takes me on a hot date… to the swap meet.  What can I say, we’re classy like that.  Clearly by “hot” I mean it’s literally warm out.

He likes to get an enormous tejuino.

I like to get an enormous cup of mixed fruit, which I proceed to douse in lime and chili.   In my mixed fruit cup, there’s always cucumber, pineapple, watermelon and fresh coconut.  The only reason I get the mixed fruit and not the delicious mango covered in chili and lime is that I absolutely love coconut.

I pretty much like anything that’s coconut flavored but you can’t beat the taste of real, fresh coconut.  So next time you feel the need for a coconut treat I recommend going to the swap meet at OCC (if you live in Orange County), but if not, make these:

No extracts.  Just the real stuff.

Coconut Cupcakes

adapted from Epicurious

For Reduced Coconut Milk:

2 cans coconut milk (to be reduced)

For Cupcakes:

2 cups cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature (3/4 cup)
1 1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup reduced coconut milk

For Frosting:

1 Stick of Butter, Room Temperature
4 oz cream cheese
3 cup powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp reduced Coconut milk

In a deep saucepan, bring 2 cans of coconut to a boil.  Simmer about 30-40 minutes until reduced to about 1 1/2 cups liquid.  Set aside to cool completely.

Preheat oven to 350F.  In a bowl, combine cake flour, baking soda and salt.  In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Then blend in vanilla extract.  Add dry ingredients, beat until just combined.  Beat in coconut milk.  Pour batter into 18-20 lined cupcake pan.  Bake 18-20 mins (depending on your oven this will vary).  Remove from pan and allow to cool completely.

Next make the frosting. Beat together all the frosting ingredients.  Gradually add in coconut milk until you get the right consistency.

Frost and garnish with extra flaked coconut.

Serve and enjoy!

The coconut flavor is light and delicate, but most definitely there.  So when you need your coconut fix, give these a whirl.

They’re probably easier to make than cracking open a coconut or searching for a swap meet… just sayin’.