It’s January 31, and summer seems a million years away. But you don’t need 80-degree weather for it to feel like summer. Bring a little something tropical to your next happy hour or brunch with these pina colada cupcakes!
If you read this post, then you know Ian and I went to Tahiti for a belated honeymoon in November. While there I drank the best pina coladas, and naturally dreamed about concocting a pina colada-themed cupcake. I picked up a bottle of Tahitian coconut rum and several bottles of Tahitian vanilla. (I only wish I had bought more!)
Don’t worry, you don’t need Tahitian rum or vanilla to make these cupcakes. I’ll be making them long after I run out of my Tahitian supplies!
As usual, my recipe is gluten free. (Find my favorite gluten free flour here and here.) You can make it gluten-full by substituting the flour. All of the other ingredients should be naturally gluten free, but check the rum label. I don’t pretend to be an alcohol expert so I’m not sure what brands are and aren’t gluten free. The Tahitian rum is fine, so maybe fly to French Polynesia this weekend? 🙂
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The most important thing to remember when making this recipe is only using a mixer to cream the butter and sugar and to beat in the eggs. Otherwise mix everything by hand. You risk overmixing the batter if you use a mixer to add in the remaining ingredients. Overmixing results in excess air bubbles and peaked cupcakes. They’ll still taste good, but they won’t be as pretty!
Bake the cupcakes for 20-24 minutes. Mine were done in 22 minutes, but keep in mind that oven temperatures vary.
Make the frosting while the cupcakes are cooling. The frosting, like the cupcakes, contain rum. But in this case you can choose your own adventure. If you like your cupcakes a little boozier, use 2 teaspoons of rum. If a strong rum flavor isn’t your thing, use less than that. I used 1 1/2 teaspoons. And hey, if you want to get even crazier, add a third teaspoon! Totally up to you. Just add a little at a time and taste it before adding any more.
Decorate your cupcakes however you want! I used Wilton tip #1M for my frosting swirl and topped them with sprinkles, pineapple wedges and cocktail umbrellas. Coconut flakes are also a fun garnish. I’m not a huge fan of coconut flakes so I didn’t put any on my cupcakes.
These pina colada cupcakes aren’t just for summer. Enjoy them year-round! Tag me @rosesandwhiskers on Instagram if you try it and use the hashtag #rosesandwhiskers.
Happy baking! 
Pina Colada Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten free 1 to 1 baking flour substitute all-purpose flour for gluten-full cupcakes
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup coconut rum
- 1/3 cup 100% pineapple juice room temperature
- 1/3 cup full fat coconut milk room temperature
Coconut Rum Buttercream
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1/4 cup Crisco
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp whole milk
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 2 tbsp coconut milk
- 1 1/2-2 tsp coconut rum
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- sprinkles, pineapple wedges, cocktail umbrellas optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (162°C) and line muffin pans with cupcake wrappers. This recipe yields 16 cupcakes so you'll need two pans.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well-incorporated.
- Use a spatula to stir in the remaining ingredients by hand. It's easy to overmix this batter, resulting in too many air bubbles and peaked cupcakes. That's why we're finishing with the spatula instead of a mixer. Start by mixing in the vanilla and coconut rum until just combined. The batter will look a little grainy, but that's okay.
- Now fold in 1/3 of the flour mixture until just combined, followed by the pineapple juice, another 1/3 of the flour, the coconut milk and then the remaining flour.
- Fill the cups 2/3 full of batter. Fill any unused cups 2/3 full of water (don't use wrappers). Bake for 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a middle cupcake comes out clean and the edges are very lightly browned. My sweet spot was 22 minutes, but oven temperatures vary.
- Let the cupcakes rest in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
Decorating the Cupcakes
- Make the frosting while the cupcakes are cooling. Cream the butter and Crisco until smooth. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar until incorporated, and then beat on high speed until fluffy. Mix in the coconut milk, whole milk, heavy cream and the remaining powdered sugar. Once incorporated mix on high speed until smooth and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and coconut rum. Start with 1 teaspoon of rum and taste it before adding any more. 1 1/2 teaspoons of rum was enough for me!
- Decorate as desired. I used Wilton tip #1M to pipe the frosting. I topped them with sprinkles, a pineapple wedge and a cute cocktail umbrella.
- Store the cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
Hi! I’m about to make this recipe right now!
Just one small question, the instructions start with, “whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt” but I can’t find baking soda in the ingredients… Am I missing something? It’s prob not too big a deal, as I’m planning to use a nice, light cake flour, and what with the baking powder and two eggs it’s prob all right (I’m doubling the recipe and figured I’d round up the baking powder from 4 tsp to 1.5 Tbs) but I thought it’d be good to ask just in case..?
Thanks for this wonderful looking recipe btw! Pina coladas and cupcakes are my twin obsessions right now so I’m sure you can imagine how stumbling onto this quite by accident felt like pure serendipity… I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
Hi Sophie! Thanks for trying my recipe! And thanks for pointing out my typo. There isn’t any baking soda, just baking powder. I’ll fix that now. 🙂 Hope you enjoyed them! Feel free to email me with any questions in the future: rosesandwhiskers1@gmail.com.