Sunday 9 September 2012

Painkiller Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting


I celebrated my birthday a few days ago. It's nice to have someone else make the cake for a change and I had 2 delicious cakes - lemon drizzle and chocolate, both firm favourites of mine. Of course, I couldn't resist baking something myself hence these Painkiller Cupcakes. I initially planned on making pina colada cupcakes but came across these on Hazel's blog and decided that with a few tweaks, I could enter this to multiple blog challenges this month!  

A painkiller cocktail is made from dark rum, orange juice, pineapple juice, sweetened coconut cream and shaved ice, topped with nutmeg. It was originally invented at the Soggy Dollar Bar in the British Virgin Islands. I decided to make a coconut and pineapple cupcake filled with homemade orange curd topped with a white chocolate cream cheese frosting and a sprinkle of nutmeg on top. Unfortunately, the orange curd was a failure (should have stuck to my normal recipe for lemon curd) so I had to improvise slightly. The result was a really moist and fruity cupcake and the flavours worked well together. They were a real hit at work and even though I don't like coconut, I really enjoyed these cakes. 

I'm entering them to AlphaBakes which I co-host with Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter for this month is "P".  You can use the letter in the name of the bake or as the main ingredient. It's a double whammy here with painkiller and pineapple. 



I'm also entering them to We Should Cocoa which is celebrating it's 2nd anniversary this month. Happy birthday WSC! Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog has chosen cocktail inspiration as the theme this month.  We should Cocoa is hosted on alternate months by Choclette and Chocolate Teapot. The idea is to make something with chocolate each month. WSC was the first blogging challenge I ever entered and I've not missed a month since then!


I'm also entering them to Calendar Cakes hosted by Laura from Laura Loves Cakes and Rachel from Dolly Bakes.  The theme this month is cupcakes as it's national cupcake week in September. 


I discovered a new blog challenge this monhth (thanks Caroline!) called Baking with Spirit. It's hosted by Janine from Cake of the Week who challenges us to bake or cook with alcohol each month. This month, she chose rum so these painkiller cupcakes are perfect. 


Finally, I'm entering them to Cupcake Tuesday hosted by Liz from Hoosier Homemade



 key ingredients - pineapple, coconut milk, rum flavouring and dessicated coconut


 adding pineapple and coconut to the batter 

 ready to go in the oven 

 how cute are these? 


 view from the top

For the cupcakes - makes 11 cupcakes of size shown 

120g flour
120g caster sugar
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
40g butter
120ml coconut milk
1 egg
30g dessicated coconut
1 teaspoon rum flavouring (or real rum) *
5 pineapple rings, chopped
5 tablespoons of homemade unset orange curd - you can either fill the cupcakes with proper orange curd or use the zest of 1 orange plus 1 tablespoon of orange juice

* I used rum flavouring as these were for work, didn't want to get everyone tipsy!

For the frosting

30g white chocolate, melted
100g cream cheese
50g butter
1 teaspoon orange water
250g icing sugar, sifted

For the decoration
Ground nutmeg to sprinkle
Cocktail umbrellas
Cherries


  • Preheat the oven to 170C.
  • Combine all the cake ingredients except for the pineapple and dessicated coconut in a large bowl. 
  • Stir in the pineapple and dessicated coconut by hand. 
  • Spoon into cupcake cases and bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
  • Allow to cool completely before frosting.
  • To make the frosting, melt the white chocolate in the microwave or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. 
  • Beat together the cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and orange water until smooth. 
  • Stir in the white chocolate and continue beating for a few minutes. 
  • Pipe the frosting on the cupcake. 
  • Sprinkle with ground nutmeg.
  • Decorate with half a cherry on top and a cocktail umbrella. 


38 comments:

  1. Awesome! Glad you liked my recipe that you decided to have a go yourself :) love the cherry and umbrella decoration - much more cocktail-like than mine!
    P.S. Did you see my post about Kuna Indian Hot Chocolate that I adapted from your blog?! :)

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    1. Thanks for the inspiration - I'd not heard of a painkiller cocktail until I saw it on your blog. Just been to see the Kuna Indian Hot chocolate post.

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  2. Wowsers that's some ingredient list...these look amazing. When I saw the name I thought they were going to be hangover cupcakes but then I saw that they had rum in! ;-) Happy belated birthday too and thanks for entering Calendar Cakes...fab cupcakes! :-)

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    1. I thought the same when I first saw the name over at Hazel's blog! Thanks for the wishes - the celebrations are ongoing :)

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  3. These cupcakes sound amazing, and they look great! There's something about a cocktail umbrella and a nice swirl of buttercream to really set a cupcake apart from the rest. Thanks for entering Baking With Spirit!

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    1. Thanks! I'm glad they fit into your new challenge.

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  4. They look great - the flavours sound really interesting and I love your elegant swirl of frosting!

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    1. Thanks! I think my piping is slowly improving :)

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  5. Happy birthday (slightly belatedly). I really liked the sound of the cakes when I saw them on Hazel's blog - they sound ideal for a birthday bake. Anything that relates to an invention in a place called the Soggy Dollar Bar has got to be good for a celebration. I am in awe of your entry into 5 challenges at the same time - that must be a record.

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    1. Thanks - these were delicious! I hope I can visit the Soggy Dollar Bar one day. I love multi blog challenge recipes - I managed 8 last month but this is pretty good too. There are probably more that I don't know about!

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  6. They look really lovely...and what a great name!

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  7. I'll take some painkiller cupcakes! My foot still smarts from that fall I took a week ago.

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    1. I'm sure these will make your foot feel better :)

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  8. Love the name of these cupcakes, what a treat ... and I would imagine these would help improve any headache ;0)

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  9. Wow, they look stunning!! I love the idea of painkiller cocktails..... I expect you wouldn't feel a thing after a couple or so ... !!

    (Champagne is my favourite cure for backache !!)

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    1. I would agree especially if you are drinking it in the Virgin Islands!

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  10. Oh wow Ros, you've really pushed the boat out with these cupcakes and the number of challenges you've managed to get them into. And it did make me laugh that you after everything you've said about coconut, you actually enjoyed these ;-)

    Hope you had a lovely birthday - got to be good with three types of cake.

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    1. Birthday is all about cake so it was a successful one this year on that count! I had to add in some chocolate just for you :) The coconut paired well with pineapple here so it was tolerable!

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  11. These cupcakes look delicious! They must me super yummy! Great recipe!

    I have been following your blog for a while now, but just recently decided to start one myself and comment :)
    I just wanted to let you know that I really like yours, all your recipes look scrumptious :)

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    1. Thanks for leaving a comment. These cupcakes were really good! Hope you get to try it for yourself. Hopping over to see your blog now.

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  12. Hope you had a lovely birthday! I know what you mean about it being nice to have someone else make the cake sometimes! But I still somehow feel I should bake something for my own birthday as well! These look delicious :)

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    1. Thanks I had a lovely birthday indeed :) I just can't help baking some cakes myself but it was definitely nice to receive cakes too!

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  13. Happy belated birthday Ros! Love the name of these cupcakes which gives them a real sense of drama. I think I would really love these as a fan of coconut, Rum and pineapple. They would make the perfect partner to a good fruity cocktail!

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    1. Thanks! Even though I don't like coconut, I loved these cakes so that's saying something. It was really delicious and would definitely go well with cocktails by the sea.

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  14. I really need to pull my finger out and start doing challenges again, love the little cocktail looking cupcakes!

    Nom!

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  15. HAHHAA i love the name of these cupcakes :) you are so creative Ros hehe i can't wait to try this recipe! Have a great holiday!

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  16. Happy belated Birthday! Wonderful looking cakes - beautifully frosted too!

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  17. Well would you look at that, you enjoyed them!! Maybe you do like coconut after all! I've never heard of the painkiller cocktail before, what a great p bake! sorry your orange curd didn't work out but it sounds like a great flavour pairing all round!

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    1. Ha ha I knew you'd pick up on that! I really did enjoy these cakes - the pineapple was the predominant flavour.

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  18. A great birthday treat - hope you had a nice day!

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  19. I could have one of those painkillers every hour of every day! Great presentation!!!

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