Beyond the Box: Baking from Scratch

Spring is here, and the weather is warming up! I got pretty toasty yesterday working in the yard, so I decided to make something cold to enjoy on a warm afternoon.  I'm really excited to share today's post with you because it's something I've been wanting to do for a long time, and it really goes with my "Beyond the Box" theme, replacing pre-made ingredients with a little DIY.   This is one of those recipes that when I saw the picture on Pinterest, I said, "Oh, that looks awesome!" but when I clicked through to actually read the recipe I thought, "Seriously? I can do better."

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.