Coconut Cupcakes

Why I Love This Recipe
Makes 12 large cupcakes/48 mini cupcakes!
Ingredients You'll Need
1 C Self raising/cake flour
1 C Caster sugar
1/2 C Unsalted butter
1/2 C Shortening
4 Eggs
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp coconut essence/splash coconut milk
1/4 C Shredded coconut
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pan with liners.
Cream butter, shortening and sugar together.
Add eggs one at a time with a spoonful of flour.
Fold in the rest of the flour and baking powder then add coconut essence/coconut milk.
If you're using coconut you shouldn't need to add any more milk but if you're using essence add a splash of normal milk to make a good consistency.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes (10-15 if you're making mini cupcakes!) until golden and firm on top.
Finishing off...
Use a simple buttercream frosting for this but replace the vanilla essence for coconut or use the coconut milk again. I usually sprinkle shredded coconut on top to finish it off but it might be nice if you lightly toast the coconut too.
OR you could maybe make coconut merangue for the tops? I haven't tried that and it might be a little too sweet though but if you try it let me know how that goes!