~Creamy Coconut Cupcakes~

• Wipe the bowl of your mixer with  white vinegar and wipe it dry, add egg whites, pinch of salt and beat egg whites until medium soft peaks are formed, add  1/4 cup sugar an beat until firm but not dry peaks are formed, scrape the meringue into a small bowl and set aside
• In  the same bowl you made the meringue  cream butter with sugar until creamy, 5 minutes
• While your butter is creaming sift together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside
• In a small dish combine together milk and coconut milk
• Add egg yolks to the butter and beat well, add coconut and vanilla extract, scrape the bowl and continue beating until smooth and well combined
• On slow speed  alternatively add coconut milk mixture and flour,  on low speed beat until smooth
• To the batter add about 1/3 of meringue, fold into the batter until smooth, fold in the remaining meringue
• Fill the prepared muffin pan, about 2/3 full
• Bake for 18-20 minutes
• Remove from the muffin pan immediately and cool the cupcakes on the cooling rack

Creamy Coconut Frosting

• Place the egg whites and the sugar in a clean bowl of your mixer and place it over a pot of simmering water, whisking constantly, until egg whites get too hot to touch, you want the sugar to dissolve and bring the egg whites to a safe temperature for use
• Once the egg whites are too hot to touch, continue whisking for 3 more minutes
• Remove from heat and immediately put your bowl on a stand mixer and beat it on high
• In the meanwhile cut up  room temperature butter into cubes.
• When meringue is ready, you are looking for stiff peaks, when you touch the sides of the bowl they should be  warm to lukewarm,  turn the mixer on low, and slowly add chunks of room temperature butter.
• Don’t worry if the mixture curdles a little, turn the mixer on medium high and beat until you have a silky buttercream .
• Add 2 tsp pure vanilla extract and  beat the buttercream  for a few more minutes, until well combined
• This buttercream can be stored at room temperature for a couple of days,or refrigerated for a week, or frozen for up to 3 months. Bring it to room temperature and re-whip it prior using.
  Tips
  To further stabilize this buttercream I recommend adding 1tbl of meringue powder, especially in the hot weather. 
  Remember butter starts to melt at  82.4F -96.8F (26-36C), so if you are planning to make this buttercream in the heat of the Summer, consider  cake, or cupcake display inside, in the air conditioned area.
  Flavors: you can  flavor your buttercream with other extracts as well

  Oven Roasted Sweetened Coconut

  2cups sweetened shredded coconut

  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
  

  For additional garnish and more coconut flavor use toasted sweetened coconut as a garnish

  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and  spread shredded sweetened coconut on the sheet

  Preheat oven to 300F

  Toast the coconut, watching it closely every few minutes and stir with the wooden spoon, until it turns lightly golden brown color. Remove from the oven and let cool before using

  Store in the airtight container until ready to use. Sprinkle on cupcakes.