I made these colourful, boozy cupcakes for a friend's summer birthday as
an alternative to a large birthday cake. All were inspired by classic cocktail
recipes...
The first published definition of a cocktail known to
be an alcoholic beverage appeared in the 1806, edition of The Balance
and Columbian Repository:
"Cock-tail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar,
water, and bitters... it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same
time that it fuddles the head."
If you would like to render your own heart stout and bold or perhaps
fuddle the heads of some friends, I suggest you read on...
I created five different kind of cupcakes; each
with its own sponge, icing and decoration combination which hints to the
cocktail by which it was inspired.
The varieties are:
- Piña Colada
- Mojito
- Strawberry Daiquiri
- Singapore Sling
- Sex on the Beach
I want to devote
an entire post to each of the different varieties, so this one will be devoted
to Piña Colada, with the other
recipes to follow shortly!
~
Piña
Colada Cupcakes
This tropical cocktail is made from a combination
of white rum, pineapple juice and coconut cream and usually garnished with a
cherry and a cocktail umbrella.
I carried these key features through in the cake to try and
produce an authentic flavour and appearance!
Makes about 12 cupcakes
You will need:
For the cupcakes:
- 110g/4oz margarine, softened
- 110g/4oz caster sugar
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 110g/4oz self-raising flour
- 1-2 tbsp milk
- 2 heaped tablespoons of desiccated coconut
For the icing:
- 140g/5oz butter, softened
- 280g/10oz icing sugar, plus a little more as required
- 4 tbsp coconut cream
- A few drops of pineapple flavouring (work to taste as different brands have different flavour intensities)
- Yellow food colouring as desired
- 3 tbsp white rum
For the garnish:
- Glacé cherries
- Cocktail sticks
- Cocktail umbrellas
- Straws
- Yellow sugar crystals
Method:
Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale.
- Beat in the eggs a little at a time.
- Fold in the flour using a large metal spoon, adding a little milk until the mixture is of a dropping consistency.
- Finally, fold in the dessicated coconut.
- Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until they are half full.
- Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into one of the cakes comes out clean.
- Set aside to cool on a wire rack.
Icing:
- For the buttercream icing, beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
- Then add the remaining icing sugar until the mixture is smooth and creamy. (If may appear a little dry at this stage, do not worry as there will be more liquid added in the upcoming stages).
- Add the food colouring and mix until well combined.
- Add the coconut cream, rum and pineapple flavouring, mix well until combined. (At this point taste the icing to check the balance of flavours and adjust by adding more of anything if necessary).
- The icing will now be quite runny, so slowly add icing sugar, until the mixture is thick, smooth and creamy.
- Spoon the icing into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe the icing using a spiralling motion onto the cup cakes in a large swirl.
Decoration:
- Sprinkle the coloured sugar over the icing.
- Stick a cocktail stick into the same number of cherries as you have cakes. Then press the cocktail stick into the icing to garnish.
- Cut the straws down to a miniature size and gently press them into the icing.
- Finally, add the cocktail umbrella at an angle.
Now all that's left
is to sit back and eat these tropical treats!
(Preferably on a warm
sandy beach somewhere with the sound of the sea - but if that's not possible,
you can get the desired effect while watching
this video!)
(Please note, whilst this video is 3 hours long, I do not recommend 3 continuous hours of cake eating...)
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