Nutz for Coconut

A few weeks ago on our return from our vacation to the beach, we took a side trip to Philly to spend some time with some friends. Part of the trip included a side trip to heaven. The Viking Store! What an amazing store. Viking showroom, kitchen gadget showroom, cooking school, art gallery...wonderful!

The only thing I walked out of the store with was a box mix from the Barefoot Contessa, Ms. Ina.

Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I wasn't sure what to expect, but thought it would be fun to give them a try. The consumer only needs to have a few ingredients at home, otherwise everything is included in the box. What do you need...butter, cream cheese and eggs. A little water is added and you'll need a cupcake pan and paper liners.

What you need.

The box said to make 10 cupcakes. There was plenty of batter for a full dozen cupcakes. Off to the oven they go.

Cream cheese frosting and shredded coconut. The cream cheese frosting is cream cheese, butter and the special bag of stuff...I'm pretty sure the stuff is just powdered sugar and vanilla flavoring.

The cakes are done. The box says they will take 25 minutes in a 325 degree oven. Mine took 35 minutes to get to this doneness....the toothpick test was successful.

Pretty Pretty Cupcakes:

Sexy Sexy Cupcakes are Delicious! The cake was pretty good. I think they could have used another tiny bit of vanilla or coconut extract. The cake is supposed to be coconut and I don't really taste it. I can feel it, as you add some shredded coconut to the batter, but I don't taste it.

As for the process, I think it's pretty easy. You do have to measure some. There is one bag in the box of the flour/cake base. You have to mix "1 cup of the mix with 1 stick of butter." So you have to pull out the measuring cups. Not an inconvenience, but if boxed mixes are supposed to make things easier, perhaps the powers that be can look at that. Maybe they can work out the timing and quantities a bit. I have a thermometer in my oven, so I can fine tune the temperature to the right temperature, and yet the cakes still took 10 minutes longer than the state time.

All this to say, I ate more than my fair share of cupcakes!!!!