Passionfruit-Coconut Cupcakes

Two weeks ago, Garrett, of Vanilla Garlic fame, posted a challenge to come up with a new cupcake. He and many other people these days are cuckoo for cupcakes. As someone who had cupcakes at my wedding instead of a big cake, I completely understand. They’re perfect single servings, you can really be clever with flavor combinations, and you can try lots of different toppings with just one batch of cakes. Plus, they remind most of us of childhood birthday parties and bake sales. Just look at all the bakeries that sell them now (Phillipp’s is a good example here).
So with my recent Hawaiian getaway, I got inspired to make a cupcake with tropical flavors. For some reason, I got fixated on passionfruit. It’s certainly not local to this area, but you can buy purees and nectars of passionfruit sometimes. I found the nectar at Safeway (in the “natural foods” aisle), where they have the Ceres brand of juices in many other tropical flavors. I simply substituted passionfruit juice for the milk in my favorite 1-2-3-4 cake recipe from Susan Purdy’s classic cookbook A Piece of Cake. (Unbelievably, you can buy this incredible book through amazon for as little as $2.73. I think it’s out of print, so don’t miss out. I use the book all the time.)
I used coconut milk (unsweetened) and a bit of coconut milk powder, which I had left from my last tropical trip to Sri Lanka, in the icing. But even the canned milk gave it plenty of flavor with the addition of toasted coconut on top. If I make this again, I’d try to source passionfruit puree for a stronger flavor, or else brush the warm cupcakes with a syrup made of reduced passionfruit juice. But even with just a hint of that floral flavor, these are yummy!
Passionfruit-Coconut Cupcakes
Makes 24
Cupcakes
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, separated
1 cup passionfruit nectar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Icing
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pound powdered sugar
1/4 to 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut milk
2 to 3 tablespoons coconut milk powder (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour the juice and vanilla into a measuring cup.
In a mixer, beat the butter until soft and smooth. Add the sugar and beat until light and smooth. Add the egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl several times.
With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and juice, beginning and ending with the flour.
In another bowl, with a clean whip, beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Stir about 1/3 of them into the batter to lighten it, then fold in the remaining whites. Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners (they will be almost full). Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the tops are golden and springy and a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.
Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Meanwhile, make the icing: Spread the coconut in a cake or pie pan and put into the oven to toast until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
Beat the butter in a mixer until smooth, then gradually begin adding the sugar. After about half of the sugar is added, pour in 1/4 cup coconut milk, beat until smooth, then scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the remaining sugar, the coconut powder (if using), the salt (which you want to balance the sweetness of the coconut), and any additional milk needed to get the texture you like. Ice the cupcakes and sprinkle each one with a bit of toasted coconut.