Coconut Cream-Filled Cupcakes

This is yummy treat for coconut lovers...a vanilla flavored cupcake with creamy coconut filling inside, topped with a light and creamy frosting and coconut flakes.
...And yes it may be a lot of work, but trust me, it's worth it!

Ingredients:

For cake:

• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

For cream filling:

• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 2/3 cups sweetened shredded coconut
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

For frosting:

• 3 large egg whites
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 tsp plus 1/8 tsp cream of tartar

For garnish: 

About 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 muffin tins (each 12 cups) with cupcake papers.

2. To make cupcakes, in a small bowl, combine flours. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter with a mixer until smooth. Add sugar gradually and beat until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

3. Add flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with milk and vanilla, and incorporating well after each addition.

4. Spoon batter into cupcake liners (until about 3/4 full). Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.

5. Cool cupcakes completely before filling and frosting them.

6. To make the filling, in a medium saucepan, whisk milk with sugar and flour until well blended. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly (about 5 minutes).

   

7. Remove from heat; stir in coconut and vanilla. Cover, and allow to cool to room temperature. 

8. Spoon (when cooled) into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip. Working with 1 cupcake at a time, plunge tip about 3/4 inch into the center of the cupcake's top. Gently squeeze pastry bag to fill cupcake, withdrawing it slowly as you squeeze.
(OR, you can do as I did, since I did not have a nozzle with a tip big enough to squeeze the filling- the coconut was getting jammed and the filling wouldn't flow through the hole in the tip- I poked a hole in the top of the cupcake with the nozzle, and then squeezed the filling through the pastry bag into the cupcake. That is, I squeezed the filling out of the pastry bag without using the nozzle because the hole in the pastra bag was big enough as it was)

9. To make the frosting, in the bowl of a mixer, combine egg whites and vanilla. Set aside.

10. Combine water, sugar, cream of tartar in a medium saucepan; immediately place over high heat. As mixture begins to bubble at edges, stir once to be sure sugar is completely dissolved, then allow mixture to come at rolling boil (1-2 minutes). Immediately remove from heat.
(Note: Make sure you do not boil the sugar and water mixture for more than 2 minutes because the mixture will turn into caramel or hard candy!!! Then, you will not be able to mix it into the egg whites mixture.)

11. Beat reserved egg whites and vanilla on medium-high with a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until foamy and light tan (about 1 minute). Without turning off mixer, pour sugar syrup into beaten egg whites in a thin, steady stream. Continue beating constantly at same speed until stiff peaks form but frosting is still creamy
.

10. Frost cupcakes, then sprinkle on coconut, and serve. (Before I sprinkled on the coconut, I colored it in a bowl with a little bit of red food coloring. The coconut is more visible and it looks pretty) To make it much easier to put the frosting on the cupcakes, use a star nozzle fitted into a piping bag and squeeze it out in circular motions.

...And here is the final product: