Pina Colada Cupcakes

Here's the thing.  I keep finding pictures of treats I made this summer and forgot to post, so forgive me for going back into summer mode for a few days.

I made these for Tim's sunday school kids and you can probably guess what their favorite part was.  

Everything is better with an umbrella.

Coconut Cupcakes

-1 box Betty Crocker French Vanilla cake mix and ingredients to make it

-1 can Coco Lopez (cream of coconut)
-1 tsp rum extract (optional)

Prepare cake mix according to package directions, substituting cream of coconut for the water, and adding rum if desired.  Pour batter into cupcake liners and bake according to package directions.  Allow to cool completely. (This is important- if you add the coconut syrup before they are completely cool, they will get soggy.)

Poke holes all over the top of each cupcake using a long skewer or other tool.  Spoon about 1 tbsp of the leftover Coco Lopez on top of each cupcake (slowly so the liquid will drip down into the holes and give you a moist coconutty cupcake.)  Set aside.

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Pina Colada Frosting

Recipe adapted from Bubblegum Frosting

-1 cup butter, softened

-1 (7 oz) jar marshmallow creme

-2 cups powdered sugar

-1/4 tsp LorAnn Pina Colada candy flavoring

-Americolor yellow food coloring

Cream the butter until light and fluffy.  Add marshmallow cream and whip for 2 minutes.

Add powdered sugar and beat for 2 minutes longer.

Add  pina colada flavoring (measure over the sink or with a dropper so your candy flavoring doesn't spill everywhere and overwhelm your frosting!).


Set aside a little bit of the frosting to use for the white dollop on each cupcake.

Add yellow food coloring to the rest of the frosting until desired color is reached. 

Pipe yellow frosting onto each cupcake.  Top with a dollop of white.

Garnish cupcakes with maraschino cherries and umbrellas. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.