Pina Colada Cupcakes

So, in honor of my friend's 22nd birthday, I made these Pina Colada cupcakes. I was planning on making some margarita cupcakes because he's Mexican, but I couldnt find the necessary items before making it all.

I was searching the web for an easy way to make them. Some required 5 eggs, while others were in the metric system which made it a lot harder for me to convert over. Finally I found one that used a box mix. Typically, I don't like using box mixes, but the kickback was planned the night before and I just didn't have the time for effort to make the cupcakes from scratch. I topped these cupcakes off with a rum whipped cream and some toasted coconut.

I brought them to the party and everyone loved them! My friends said that you could taste the rum a bit in the cupcake and in the whipped cream - not enough to make it taste like alcohol though.

Pina Colada Cupcakes:
[adapted from Betty Crocker and iheartcuppycakes]

Cupcake:
1 box of yellow or white cake mix
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons rum
1 can [8oz] crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
3 eggs
1/3 cup shredded coconut
Directions:
Preheat oven at 350F. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
Add 2 tablespoons of rum to the pineapple and let sit for a couple of minutes.
Mix together cake mix, oil, 1/4 cup rum, and eggs.
Take 2 tablespoons of the pineapple juice rum mixture out for the whipped cream.
Mix in the pineapple and shredded coconut.
Place about 2 tablespoons of batter for each cupcake. [For easier placing, spray the tablespoon with Pam or soak it in vegetable oil.]
Bake for about 15 minutes. Cool in pan.

Whipped Cream:
1.5 cup of heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons of pineapple juice rum mixture from above
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
Directions:
Whip all three until stiff peaks form, about 5-10 minutes.

Toasted Coconut:
shredded coconut either cooked over stove top or baked in the oven until toasted.

To assemble:
Take the cupcake and using 1M or other star tip, pipe the whipped cream onto the cupcake. Add some toasted coconut on top and ENJOY!

Hummingbird Cupcakes

These Hummingbird Cupcakes were made for a friend of mine, Kevin. Kevin and I have an interesting relationship. We make fun of each other, but we truly deeply like each other. He's a pretty close friend of mine, but I dont get to see him really often because he goes to school in Long Beach while I'm up here in Berkeley. We are friends, though, through Circle K so I get to see him quite often at various district events.

He had chosen these cupcakes - why? I have no idea, and I dont think he knew what he was getting into either. These fruit and nut filled cupcakes were a burst of flavor.

I feel like they were very good, but the banana in the cupcake was not very obvious. The pineapple and pecans were very obvious, but less so the banana. Maybe because I had browned them in the oven and not naturally. Who knows?

Recipe is from here. I only took 1/3 of the recipe because that was easiest for me! So yummy!

Pineapple Upside Down...Cake

What was supposed to be cupcakes, turned into a cake.

First, my roommate has let someone borrow all of our cupcake pans so we didnt have any, and I couldnt really make pineapple upside down cupcakes without at least one. So I decided to do it the regular way and make a cake.

I followed this recipe, but made a few changes.

Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 20-ounce can pineapple circles
1/3 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
18-19 ounce yellow cake mix (prepare batter as directed on box OR use these ingredients)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
a little bit of water
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease two circular pans (I used an 8 and a 9 in pans)
Drain canned pineapple, reserving liquid in a glass measuring cup.
Place the butter and brown sugar evenly on two each pan.
Decorate the pans with the circles. (I cut them into fourths and decorated appropriately)
Place cake mix and eggs in large bowl.
To reserved pineapple juice, add enough water to make a total of 1-1/3 cups of liquid.
Pour liquid in bowl.
Mix until well blended.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
Allow to rest in pan for 2 minutes and then invert onto serving platter.

I decided to get a little funky and use some of the batter and make it green using green food coloring. It was just a little fun side of things for a party I went to.

Picture time!

This is what happens when a college student gets lazy.
Pretty decorating
All baked.
yay with the green!
FAIL CAKE!

Cupcakes would have been much more fun, but a lot more work than needed for this kickback my friend was throwing. After one of my cakes would not completely invert onto the other one, I just used the extra pineapple and decorated the other completed one. I also ate the horrible fail cake. When I got there, half the cake was gone and I'm glad that everyone there loved it. =)
<3 Nina