The Story:
A lot of people ask why I focus on cupcakes. Well, my answer is usually “Because there are so many different kinds you can make and create. But also because they are so pretty.” But coconut cupcakes are boring to photograph. But since I got my new camera, these snowball cupcakes turned out beautifully, oh my. Not only are they pretty, but they are to die for.
Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes
Servings 24 Cupcakes
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake:
- 1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix
- 1/2 cup oil
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Coconut Cream Frosting:
- 8 ox cream cheese
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract
- 4-5 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
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1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pan with cupcake liners.
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2. Sift cake mix into a small bowl and set aside.
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3. In a large bowl, gently whisk oil, eggs, buttermilk, sour cream and vanilla extract.
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4. Pour cake mix into wet ingredients and mix.
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5. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 16-20 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
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6. Coconut Cream: Beat cream cheese and butter for 4 minutes. Add vanilla and coconut extract. Slowly add powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency. Scrape down bowl as needed.
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7. Pipe coconut cream on cooled cupcakes and roll in shredded coconut.
HOORAY!!!! Finally my FAVORITE kind of cupcake ever!
They may be boring to photo, but they are yummy to eat.
I can’t wait to make them, praying the cake is deep and rich 🙂
3.4 cup of sour cream? Did you mean 3/4 cup? I don’t have sour cream on hand at this moment, can I just add extra buttermilk? Can it be a great substitute for sour cream?
Whoops! Fixed that, sorry. Increase the buttermilk only to about 1 1/4 cup total. You don’t want to add too much liquid to the cake. Good luck!
i’m glad you focus on cupcakes… this is an awesome cupcake recipe!! i love anything coconut.
I made this frosting today and it is delicious! Thanks so much for sharing!
after cooling, i took the tops off with a fork and poured in some sweetened condensed milk and refrigerated them for a couple hours to make them a bit more gooey and sweet. great recipie!
Hi Lizzy…your recipes and photos look great. Just a quick question as I did not realize you could add buttermilk and sour cream to boxed mixes. What is the purpose of this? Also by adding these how long can you keep the cupcakes on the counter before they need to be refrigerated?
Thank you.
Buttermilk and sour cream help the cake mix to be a little more dense, richer and more moist. First if all, I never refrigerated my cupcakes. If anything, its better to freeze them, this won’t dry them out as much. I leave my cupcakes out for 24 hours and they are totally fine. Good luck!
Would these be good for a community bake sale?
Yes, fabulous for it!
Im making these tomorrow! Is the coconut topping sweetened it unsweetened? Thanks!
Either works, I used sweetened for these
What if you’ve already frosted the cupcakes? Do you have to refrigerate them then? I was just wondering because the frosting has the cream cheese in it.
Thanks!
I love your recipes!!
If it’s just overnight, don’t worry about it.
To make the icing so round on the top what tip do you use? I am newer to my cupcake passion and I am not sure how to make such rounded top cupcakes?
You don’t have to use a piping tip. Just use a knife to put a big mound on top, smooth with a knife and gently roll in coconut.
I’m making these for my grandfather’s birthday in August and I’m fairly new to baking. I was wondering if I could replace certain ingredients with other ingredients: buttermilk with coconut milk; and powdered sugar with regular white sugar. Would these replacements be okay?
Thanks for recipe! Cupcakes look delicious!
The milk substitution is good but for the sugar, you do need powdered sugar for the Buttercream though
Beautiful!! Such a gorgeous combo of black and white on one cupcake!
Thanks for the recipe! I made them tonight and they are delicious!
Love your site!! I’m just wondering what brand of coconut extract you use and where you get it?
Thank you!
I believe mine is mcCormick… I just get it at my grocery store
I made these today and they are fabulous! The batter turned out moist, rich and absolutely perfect! I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to add the coconut extract to the icing since my local grocery didn’t carry it. I am on the hunt now and will be making these again as soon as I can find it. I can’t wait! Thanks for such a dependable recipe! I am a very inexperienced baker and am glad to have another excellent recipe under my belt.
Found this recipe and made them for my friend’s birthday because he likes coconut. He, with some help from friends, devoured them all. I topped some with shredded coconut, but had forgotten to buy some more so I had to try some other things – I topped some with dark chocolate shavings and some with toffee pieces. Turned out great – thanks for this lovely recipe!
Absolutely lovely!!
Only a smiling visitor here to share the love (:, btw great design and style .
looks interesting but is AMAZING!
Why do you usbox mix?
It’s faster and fool proof
Hi, I want to make these for my son’s winter themed birthday party and was wondering if the cupcake would be OK to freeze for a couple of weeks then put the frosting and coconut on the morning of the party?
Yes, just make sure they cool COMPLETELY before freezing them or else you can end up with a sticky mess.
Oh, well I bake too and I make mine from stracth, i think it’s better but i love ur cupcakes! Nice too meet u.
Hi,
Can I substitute dessicated coconut instead of shredded ones? The only other kind I could find was frozen shredded scrapes. But I was worried they might make the cupcakes soggy.
Thanks,
Lakshmi
I am not sure what kind of coconut you’re talking about, but if it would taste good by itself, I’m sure it will be great on these cupcakes!
Hey, thank you for this amazing recipe. I was wondering what the earliest time would be to frost the the cupcakes. Is 48 hours in advance too risky?
Best, Leah
I would wait to frost them until 24 hours ahead and keep them in tupperware!!!
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I have made these cupcakes quite a few times since finding your blog through Pinterest….they have always been a hit and disappear very quickly!!
This has no become my go to cupcake recipe and buttercream recipe (sometimes I just omit the coconut and add extra vanilla)
Thanks again 😀
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