Happy Easter! Coconut Cupcakes w/ Lemon Zest Frosting

Ingredients: coconut milk, dried unsweetened coconut, sweetened shredded coconut, vanilla bean, cake flour, cane sugar, egg whites, salt, lemon zest

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I adapted these sweet treats from a recipe I found on epicurious.com for Coconut Cupcakes - just thought these would be perfect for an Easter picnic or dessert. Baking with coconut milk is something I've never done before and really enhanced the flavor of the cake (instead of the usual artificial coconut flavoring that tastes like suntan lotion). The recipe actually called for coconut cream instead of milk, but the only coconut cream they had available at the store had more preservatives and additives in it than coconut; I opted for the organic coconut milk instead. I also don't like baking with vanilla extract - the flavor is too pungent and sweet for me. I used real vanilla beans for this recipe, seeding a whole vanilla pod and adding it directly to the batter. 

The recipe for the frosting has been adapted from Martha Stewart's Whipped Frosting. I was looking for a lighter frosting, since I'm not big on frosting to begin with and a buttercream and/or a cream cheese frosting seemed a bit too heavy. This one appealed to me since it's basically just a meringue, made completely of egg whites and sugar. Again, she asked for vanilla extract, but instead I used fresh lemon zest which turned out much better. It's a great combo to go with the light, fluffy cupcake. Frankly, though, the frosting could've turned out a bit better - since it had a meringue base, it just really deflated and got slightly goopy toward the end. Better off using a cream cheese or buttercream for a better, stiffer texture.