baked!: springy coconut cupcakes.

first of all, a disclaimer: i promise i don't only bake things that have coconut in them -- in fact, next on my list is salted caramel brownies. so there's that.

second of all, these cupcakes -- based on ina garten's recipe -- are good.

i needed a dessert item for my friend k.'s 30th birthday bash two weeks ago, and was thinking about making the giant coconut cake again. but i've made that cake a lot lately, so i decided to switch it up and go for coconut cupcakes, instead. i'd had ina's recipe bookmarked for awhile, and since the last baked good i made by her -- this chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting -- was so good, i figured, why not?

the results were, if i do say so myself, impressive: moist vanilla cakes with a hint of almond extract and a bit of shredded coconut, topped with a big slather of just-tangy-enough cream cheese frosting and shredded sweetened coconut. since k.'s birthday also fell on easter weekend, i took advantage of all the readily available easter candy and added three jelly beans to the top of each cake. (and then, not going to lie, i polished off the bag of jelly beans over the rest of the weekend.)

anyway, if you need a sweet treat that feels decidedly springlike, i definitely recommend these. and since i've got coconut on the brain, are you a coconut lover or hater? (i find people usually fall into one of those two camps -- is there an in-between?)