Italian Cream Cake Cupcakes

Okay…I need help. Serious help. I’m leaving for college in like 20 something days if that (it’s pretty pathetic that I don’t even know exactly when I’m moving in) and I have nothing for my dorm room. I went to Target today and my INTENTION was to pick out a comforter and maybe just start picking up a few necessities but no. Instead, I gave up on college shopping because it’s just so intimidating and I wandered up and down the food aisles. And what did I come out with? Some cream cheese…eggs…and yeah we all know what that means. Katie is going to spend all of her money on cupcake ingredients rather than college. Sweet!

Italian Cream Cake Cupcakes Recipe

Adapted from Homemade By Holman

Cupcake

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup + 3 T sugar
• 5 eggs, separated
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup sweetened, flaked coconut
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray and line muffin tins
2. Beat egg whites in a clean mixing bowl, increasing speed from low to medium high until you reach stiff peaks. Set aside
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, oil, and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Mix in the egg yolks and vanilla and mix until well incorporated. Add in the coconut and mix to combine. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and whisk together
4. Alternate adding flour mixture in three additions and buttermilk in two additions to the batter, beating until just incorporated after each addition. Once complete, fold in egg whites. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites first to lighten the batter, then gently fold in the remaining egg whites
5. Divide batter evenly among pans, sprinkle the tops with granulated sugar. Bake approximately 15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of each comes out clean. Tops should be golden brown
6. Cool in pans about 10 minutes then cool completely on wire racks

Frosting

• 2 8 oz packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 lbs powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup sweetened, flaked coconut
• 1/2 cup walnuts (if that)

1. Combine cream cheese and butter in mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes
2. Add vanilla extract and beat until well incorporated
3. Gradually add in powdered sugar, mix on low speed until the frosting reaches the desired consistency
4. Pipe onto cupcakes and garnish with coconut flakes and walnuts

The egg whites made this batter really fluffy. Usually they always give me such a hard time but mine formed stiff peaks perfectly!

I had a feeling there was going to be extra frosting because some of it was supposed to be set aside for the filling if I were making the actual cake. I didn’t want to take any chances running out of frosting, but this recipe can be cut in half

I was so proud of my little decorating station! My dad threw out my piping bag without realizing it was reusable so I attempted to make my own and it actually worked! Better than the store-bought decorating bag if I do say so myself 😉

What can I say? These little guys were fun to take pictures of. And not to brag or anything but I’m pretty certain my piping skills have vastly improved since the Milky Way cupcakes…sort of 😛