With their dainty look and individual wrapping, cupcakes please a crowd of adults and children alike. Coconut flavor screams summer, and these moist, fluffy cakes are a light but sweet end to an outdoor meal. The savory pairing of balsamic vinegar and basil with a strawberry dessert may seem doubtful, but once you taste the combination we promise you will fall in love with it. And after Labor day, when the weather gets chilly, the days grow shorter, and the leaves fall from the trees, just make this dessert and it will revive memories of warm summer evenings spent on the beach.
Makes 16 to 18 cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Line 18 cupcake tins with paper lines. Put butter and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on high, about 5 minutes, until mixture is light and fluffy. Turn mixer to low and add eggs and yolks, one at a time, scraping down batter from sides occasionally. Add vanilla and zest and mix well.
In a separate bowl, sift together baking powder, salt, and flour. Add 1/3 of dry ingredients to butter and sugar and mix until just combined. Add half of milk and mix. Repeat steps, adding an additional 1/3 of the dry mixture at a time, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Add coconut and mix for an additional 15 seconds.
Using an ice cream scoop or spoon, fill each cupcake tin until ¾’s full. Bake in oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until you insert a cake tester and it comes out clean. (Tops should be a light golden brown.) Remove from metal tins and allow to cool to room temperature before icing.
In a large bowl, mix strawberries, sugar, vinegar, and basil and allow mixture to sit for 10-15 minutes before serving.
In bowl of an electric mixer, place cream cheese and butter and mix on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Stop mixer, add sugar, and place mixer on low. Beat until sugar is well incorporated into butter and cream cheese, about 1 to 2 minutes.
To ice cupcakes, place icing in pastry bag fitted with a metal tip. Pipe out icing in circular motion until top of cupcake is filled. Repeat procedure with additional cupcakes. Serve immediately with strawberries on side or refrigerate overnight.
*Note: Strawberries sold from a farmer’s market in season are typically sweeter, smaller, and much more flavorful than those bought in a supermarket. If you must use berries from the supermarket, add an additional teaspoon of sugar and slice berries in quarters instead of in half.
