Coconut Buttercream Frosting, Plus How I Develop Flavour Combinations

This Coconut Buttercream Frosting is basically a coconut mouthgasm. Not even kidding, every time someone tried this, their reaction was “Mmmmmffff!” (That’s a happy moan, btw). The magical combination of buttercream and coconut was a happy accident for me, but it’s one that I’ve now made a staple in my icing stable (try saying that three times fast!) and people are always happy to bite into a cupcake topped with this delicious concoction.

Speaking of concoctions, I made chocolate mini cupcakes, then topped them with this coconut buttercream frosting, and then topped that with pearlized gumballs. That’s right, I mixed chocolate, coconut, and bubblegum flavours…and it was a hit! Sometimes there’s just no way of knowing whether a flavour combination will be tasty until you try it.

And you should definitely try making the Coconut Buttercream Frosting!

COCONUT BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

• 1 c. butter, softened
• 1/3-1/2 c. coconut oil, room temperature
• 3 1/2 c. icing sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Whip butter and coconut oil together until thoroughly mixed. Add in icing sugar and vanilla, and mix until combined. Beat on high for at least 10 minutes (this is what makes it super-fluffy and increases the volume of icing). Spoon into piping bag (or spread on a cake with an offset spatula), and enjoy everyone’s happy mouth-gasms!

If you’re a dedicated reader (and I’m sure you all are, right? RIGHT?) you’ll recognize that it’s just a variation of one of my pillar content recipes: The Only Buttercream Recipe You’ll Ever Need. In fact, it can even be played with a bit to make Vegan Coconut Buttercream Frosting, perhaps on top of my Vegan Spice Cake! But that’s a post for another day!

As I said, I topped mini chocolate cupcakes with this (made with my fave chocolate cake recipe) and then topped that with pearlized gumballs because they were just so cute. But you could easily make a triple-layer chocolate cake, ice it with this icing, and then sprinkle shredded sweetened coconut on it, for a Chocolate and Double-Coconut Cake! See how easy it is to combine flavours? I encourage you to play around with flavours yourself. What’s the oddest flavour combination you’ve ever tried, that actually tasted good? Let me know in the comments!

Next Post: Either Coconut Apple Spice Cake (totes lunchbag worthy), or Buttercream Succulent-Topped Cupcakes (totes Instagram worthy). Any preferences? Both are delicious. 

Linking up at Meal Plan Monday!