Italian Cream Cupcakes

More cupcakes!  And today's is non-chocolate (you were starting to think that all my work was in cocoa, weren't you?).  Guys, this recipe is one of my absolute all-time favorites.  It's a little more work than the other recipes I've posted, but it is so worth it.  The first time I made these and took them to work they disappeared like hotcakes (but, they're cupcakes, not hotcakes, so, even better, and probably faster).   One of my bosses at the time, a very classy, gentlemanly-type attorney, told me it was "the best cupcake he had ever eaten," and another attorney asked whether they actually had coconut in them, because he hates coconut, but these were excellent.  They raved.  It was quite the ego boost.

And it makes 36 cupcakes! So you can eat as many as you want and still have plenty to share! So make these. They're awesome. And they have cream cheese frosting, which as far as I'm concerned should be its own fabulous food group.

Mmm...Frosting....

This recipe is closely based on one from one of my favorite cook books (Taste of Home Desserts), but in my typical fashion, I converted the original cake recipe to cupcakes for ease of sharing and tweaked the frosting to get a little more cream cheese flavor.  I highly recommend this cook book, though.  Everything I've made from it has been delightful.

So let's get started! Gather your ingredients.  And by the way, I use unsweetened coconut for this recipe.  After I took the picture I realized that my setup hid the "un" and made it look the other way.  Oops...

And right off the bat, mix up the part that makes it delicious: fats and sugars!

While the butter, shortening, and sugar are mixing up into a delightful, fluffy concoction, take care of any remaining prep work.  If you bought your pecans not-chopped, chop them.  I like to do this in my food processor because it's so much faster and easier, but if you had a rough day and want to take your feelings out on some pecans, I won't stand in your way. 

This is also a good time to separate your egg yolks from the whites because you need the yolks for the next bit. Also, combine your flour and baking soda in another bowl. I didn't take a picture of that, so here is a picture of the separated eggs.

Take your egg yolks (see, I told you that you'd need them!) and vanilla, and beat them into the buttery, sugary fluff and marvel at what a cheerful, sunshine-y yellow it is.

Bonus recipe within a recipe! You may have noticed when I show ingredients, I often list vanilla extract, but there is no bottle in the picture with that label.  That little brown bottle with no label is my vanilla.  I make my own.  It's easy, it's cost effective, it's delicious.   Just buy a whole vanilla bean and a moderate-to-good quality vodka.  Put the bean in the bottle of your choice and fill with vodka.  It's ready after 30 days.  And the bean is usually good for a couple batches of vanilla - you'll know it's time to get a new bean when it's disintegrating and you get bean bits in your baked goods.

And now it really starts to look like cake batter with the addition of the flour/baking soda mix and buttermilk, alternating about a third of each at a time keep everything moving smoothly and mix it up evenly.  Also to avoid this.

Stir in the nuts and set it aside. 

Pecan nuts and coconuts

Next is my favorite part because it's like magic. Seriously.  As repulsive as I find raw eggs, the process of transforming runny, slimy egg whites into a beautiful, silky fluff just by spinning them around with air never ceases to amaze me.  

See? This looks (and feels) like snot.

This is beautiful, smooth, and dreamy.  Magic.

Then fold the fluffy magic into the delicious batter. 

And scoop!  This is the disher that is an excellent measure for cupcakes.  Fill your little cupcake cups about half-way and pop them in the oven.

Time for frosting! This is easy.  Gather your ingredients....

Mix up the cream cheese and butter.

Add the vanilla and slowly add the powdered sugar.  I add the powdered sugar about a half cup at a time.  If you add too much at once or throw it into high speed too fast, you end up with this, again.

Delicious.  Spread it on your cupcakes with a knife or pipe it on in pretty patterns with some decorator tips.  Or just eat it with a spoon.  Whatever.   

Sprinkle your chopped pecans on top to make it even prettier.

Italian Cream Cupcakes

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Servings: 36

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
5 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 8-oz packages of cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup butter, softened
6 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped pecans

For the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter, shortening, and sugar until light and fluffy.  Then beat in the egg yolks and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking soda.  Alternating the flour mixture and the buttermilk, add to the butter/sugar mixture and beat just until combined.  Then, stir in the coconut and  pecans.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Adding 1/3 at a time, fold the egg whites into the batter.  Once the batter is nicely mixed,  portion it into your prepared cupcake pans and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until you pass the toothpick test.

As always, allow to cool completely before frosting.

For the Frosting:

Beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth, and then beat in powdered sugar and vanilla.  After frosting cupcakes, use pecans to top the icing.

*Note:  If you choose to make this into a cake, rather than 36 cupcakes, it makes 3 9-inch layers, and the cake crumbs easily when frosting because it is so fluffy and tender.  The pecans are great for disguising and/or hiding the crumbs in the icing.