Raspberry Mojito Cupcakes

I’m over the moon about this vegan coconut cake! It came out like a dream.

It has heaps of coconut flavor as well as texture from two cups of dessicated coconut in the cake batter. And then the frosting has a bit of naughty coconut flavor via a quarter cup of coconut rum!

It’s gorgeous and it’s super easy to make too!

My affection for this Vegan Coconut Cake goes back to my childhood when my mom would make me a more traditional version (i.e., not vegan…I don’t think vegan was a thing then) on my birthday each year. I guess because there’s something about the moist cake topped with coconut that gets me every time. You know, if you like vegan cake recipes, check out my Vegan Cinnamon Roll Poke Cake. Delicious. Or how about my Vegan Chocolate Wacky Cake. So good!

I had a minor snafu at first because when I was first trying to formulate the recipe I knew I wanted to put actual coconut in the batter, but I kept on thinking of it as a wet ingredient, which I know (now!) was silly!

So I was trying to replace some of the wet ingredients thinking that the coconut, being dessicated, would surely (or at least, possibly) break down in some way during the baking process and then leave me with a cake that was too wet.

Of course that didn’t happen and I had a cake a that was way too dry! So then I realized what I’m sure all you clever people already knew – of course it’s a dry ingredient because it’s like nuts, it’s a dry ingredient until such time as you process it into something like coconut butter, and then it becomes a wet ingredient, but if you don’t process it, it’s a dry ingredient, like putting nuts into a cake.

As I said above, my mom would make me a delicious coconut cake for my birthday when I was a kid. Then, one year my birthday fell at a time when my mom was in the hospital and the responsibility of preparing the cake fell upon my sister, Pam.

So, I guess Pam thought I was a bit too demanding about what exactly I wanted from my cake. Or maybe she was just being playful. Who knows. Anyway, my sister, Pam? She likes to do things her own way. So, she made the cake as I requested, but she put her own touch on it — she put purple food coloring in the cake and orange food color in the icing. The cake tasted the same as always, but it looked really weird.

Below is the recipe for my very own Marly’s Vegan Coconut Cake (sans food coloring). But before the recipe, a little tidbit about my sister’s name. The one very cool thing about her name is that her initials spelled Pam. I wonder how many people there are like this in the world? I’m sure it must be quite unique. I’ve read that having your initials spell a word can have a positive impact on a person’s life, but having your initials actually spell your name? That has to be much better.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (or sub all purpose flour)
• 1 1/2 cups raw cane sugar (or sub white sugar)
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 cup applesauce
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Extra shredded coconut oil for topping

For the icing:

• 1 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Grease two 8″ cake pans with coconut oil and set aside.
3. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and shredded coconut into a large bowl and set aside.
4. Next, melt coconut oil in microwave or over stovetop; set aside to cool for a few minutes.
5. Meanwhile, combine milk, applesauce, vinegar, and vanilla in a bowl and mix with an electric mixer.
6. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients, stirring with an electric mixer before adding in the coconut oil; combine everything.
7. Pour batter evenly into cake pans and bake the cake for 35-40 minutes, using a toothpick to test doneness.
8. Leave cakes in the pans for 10 minutes before carefully transferring them to a cooling rack. Wait until cakes are completely cooled off before icing them.
9. While the oven is still hot, place approximately 1 cup of shredded coconut onto a baking sheet and “toast” for 5 minutes or until coconut becomes somewhat golden in color; set aside.
10. For the icing: melt coconut oil and then pour into a large bowl; stir in vanilla and powdered sugar with an electric mixer; the texture should be similar to buttercream icing (i.e. thick and creamy).
11. Use a knife to remove the “dome” part of each cake and then ice the top of one cake before placing the second cake on top of it and icing that cake. Use icing to cover the entire cake and then top it with toasted shredded coconut.
12. Enjoy!