Churro Coconut Cupcakes (Updated)

Reminds me of a pink cinnamon rose :) 

I have to be honest...I am not the greatest baker out there. There is so much for me to learn. But, over the past two months or so, I have done my fair share of baking. I have always followed someone else's recipe for desserts because I knew I still needed to familiarize myself with the process of baking. For some desserts I attempted, I failed pretty miserably (my lemon souffle was a disaster!). But, for many others, I was so happy with the results and could not wait to have my family and friends try them out. 

But seriously, it's time to grow up...I decided to create my own cupcake recipe! For experienced bakers out there, this is probably not very impressive. For me, though, this is such a huge step forward. It really shows how much I am willing to break out of being comfortable and simply following someone else's recipe. It helped to tremendously boost my confidence level as a baker. I know there is a science to baking, but really...it's not rocket science, right?

The way I went about preparing my own recipe was looking back on the dozens of different recipes I had tried out over the past few months. I had an idea of which ingredients are important, and the quantities of each ingredient. I also wanted to play around with the typical churro recipe and added coconut flakes, because they are my ultimate favorite! The aroma of coconuts...just transports me to Costa Rica :) (by the way, a year ago yesterday was the day I flew out to Costa Rica...I miss it there!). 

This is Corcovado, Costa Rica...our tent was literally 10 feet away from where I took this picture. 

I have to give a disclaimer, though. This recipe is NOT perfect. And, to be fair, I may end up adjusting it over time before I am completely satisfied with the results. But, for now, I am very proud of the way that my cupcakes turned out and am so happy that I am finally growing as a baker. I hope that, eventually, I can create recipes to more intricate and complicated pastries. But for now, let's travel to Spain and have a churro ;-) 

Churro Coconut Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

Cupcake:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar 
1/2 cup coconut flakes
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk (I used almond milk, but any type of milk works fine)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Buttercream Frosting:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (or, 3/4 cups butter), softened, at room temperature
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar and canola oil. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add in vanilla extract, and about half of the milk. 

4. Slowly add in about half of the flour mixture. Then, add the remaining milk. End by adding the remaining half of the flour mixture. Combine completely, but do not overmix as this makes the batter rubbery (my mama taught me that ;-)). Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

5. Stir in coconut flakes.

6. Line a cupcake baking tin with cupcake liners. Spoon in cupcake batter about 2/3 of the way. 

7. Place cupcakes on middle rack in the oven and bake for approximately 14-18 minutes. I would start off with 15 minutes and add additional minutes if you find that the center of the cupcakes are still wet. 

8. Let cupcakes cool on cooling rack.

9. For buttercream frosting, use an electric mixer with a whisk. I placed the electric mixer and whisk handle in the freezer for about 15 minutes to remain cool. 

10. Mix butter, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and milk. Then, add in powdered sugar. Mix on medium to high speed until fully combined, light, and fluffy. 

11. Spoon the frosting into a piping bag. The easiest way for me to do this is to place the piping bag in a glass cup while I spoon in the frosting. I then left the frosting in the fridge for about 5-10 minutes to firm up. 

12. Using a Wilton 1M tip, pipe the frosting on each cupcake. 

13. For garnish, you may mix some cinnamon and granulated sugar and sprinkle the cupcakes.