Coconut Heaven Cupcakes

This amazing recipe is by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, written in her vegan recipe book Vegan with a Vengeance. I'm in love with these cupcakes because they remind me of a local specialty here in Gainesville--- the vegan coconut layer cake made at the Reggae Shack and their sister restaurants. Their cake is so sought after that they are very stringent on keeping their recipe a secret and won't even tell you what ingredients are in it. I've been determined to try to make a similar recipe at home, but haven't known where to start. Fortunately, this delicious recipe is pretty darn close, that it's enough to satisfy my craving for the real deal!

Cupcake ingredients:

1 cup flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup canola oil (I subbed coconut oil instead)
1 cup coconut milk
⅔ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
*optional- chocolate chips, I added them into half of the cupcakes and they were DELICIOUS if you like chocolate and coconut together

Frosting ingredients:

¼ cup margarine (or earth balance, or coconut oil-- I used a combo of both of these)
¼ cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

*note- I made this amount of icing and it was a bit too much and made them very sickly sweet, I think ⅔ this amount would be plenty if you don't like things too sugary

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12 muffin tin with liners (we use reusable silicone ones and they're amazing!). Mix all ingredients together in a mixer/food processor with dough hook, or if you mix by hand first mix dry ingredients and then add wet and mix until smooth. Fold in coconut.

Fill each muffin liner about ⅔ full. Bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes (edges should be slightly brown and they should spring back when touched).

To make icing, use electric/handheld mixer to mix everything together until smooth. Refrigerate until use. When cupcakes are done and fully cooled you can frost them and add extra coconut flakes on top. My frosting looks a little brown in the photo because I accidentally used unprocessed cane sugar instead of confectioner's.. if done correctly it should be less grainy and smooth and white!

Thanks Isa! Enjoy :)