First of all, how gorgeous is this cake? I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve made a dessert recipe and shared it with you. It’s been even longer since I’ve posted a recipe with more than 10-15 ingredients. Believe me, it will be worth it. About a month ago my friend Amber asked me if I would compete in a ‘cupcake battle’ with her at a local food blogging conference we were both attending. I of course immediately said yes and we went right to work on deciding our team name and cupcake we wanted to make. Because Amber is the Cupcake Wars connoisseur I let her take the lead and immediately fell into place as her assistant. It was the beginning of a beautiful partnership.
In the end we decided to go with the not-your-ordinary cupcake. You see, Amber’s favorite drink at Chili’s happens to be a Blackberry Pina Colada (virgin of course). Which she cleverly adapted into a cupcake flavor. The flavors of rum extract, pineapple, coconut, and blackberry together married so wonderfully. It’s the type of dessert that makes you think you’re on vacation, or at least wish you were. On Saturday evening Amber and I competed in the first Cupcake Battles competition at the Everything Food Conference and… WON! Our cupcake won! It was a crazy/exciting/exhausting experience that I’ll never forget. Be sure to scroll all the way past the recipe for more details about the competition! While I was recipe testing our cupcake recipe for the battles I decided to create another version of the dessert as well.
Lite&Sweet by Xlear was the sponsor for the battle. In being the sponsor our recipes had to be made using the product. I was excited to learn that Lite&Sweet is a natural sweetener made of xylitol and erythritol. In fact, I buy the Xlear Spry Gum from my local health food store on a regular basis, it was no surprise that I’d love another product of theirs. You can sub the Lite&Sweet for white granulated sugar 1:1, blend it in a high speed blender to create powdered sugar, and because it has a glycemic index of three, it has 75% fewer calories than sugar (AND it’s completely natural). Cool product right? I was certain there would be an aftertaste, and after first bite I was pleasantly surprised to find there wasn’t! If you’d like to try it for yourself, the kind folks at Xlear are offering a buy one get one free deal: here!
Blackberry Pina Colada Cake
Do you love Pina Coladas? You'll want to get your hands on this fun twist of Blackberry Pina Colada Cake. With the addition of blackberry you've got a next level fruit explosion. The flavors marry together beautifully!
Ingredients
Cake
- 5 eggs separated
- 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
- 2 c. Lite&Sweet can use white granulated sugar
- 1/2 c. butter softened
- 1/2 c. vegetable oil
- 2 tsp. rum extract
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 c. all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp. corn starch
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 c. coconut milk
- 1/2 c. whole milk
- 1/4 c. sour cream
- 1 c. shredded coconut sweetened flaked
Pineapple Curd
- 1 c fresh pineapple puree strained
- 1/3 c. Lite&Sweet can use white granulated sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- 2 tbsp. cornstarch
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 2 tbsp. butter
Filling
- 3 c. heavy whipping cream
- 1 c. coconut milk
- 1 c. powdered Lite&Sweet can use powdered sugar
- 2/3 c. pineapple curd reserved
- 2 tbsp. seedless blackberry preserves reserved
Topping
- 1 c. toasted shredded coconut
- 1 c. fresh blackberries
Instructions
Cake
-
Separate the egg whites from egg yolks, and allow the egg whites to stand at room temperature.
-
Preheat the oven to 325. Grease three 9" round cake pans and set aside.
-
In a large bowl, beat Lite&Sweet, butter and oil until well blended. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add in rum and vanilla extract; set aside.
-
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
-
In a small bowl mix whole milk, coconut milk, and sour cream together. Alternately add flour mixture and milk mixture to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. Once combined, add in shredded coconut.
-
Add cream of tartar to egg whites, and with clean beaters, beat on medium speed until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/4 of the egg whites into the cake batter, then gently fold in remaining whites. Once combined, divide the batter evenly between the greased cake pans.
-
Bake 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool at least 10 minutes before carefully removing from the pans then allow to cool completely on a wire rack (I baked them a day beforehand and allowed them to cool overnight).
Pineapple Curd
-
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the pineapple puree, Lite&Sweet, egg yolks, cornstarch, and pinch of salt. Turn heat on to medium and whisk constantly until the mixture thickens (this happens just as it's about to come to a boil, approx. 5 minutes). Remove from heat and whisk in the butter until melted. Allow to cool completely before adding to filing. Store remainder in a glass jar, sealed, for up to one week.
Filling
-
For the filling, whip heavy cream and coconut milk until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in Lite&Sweet until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and butter-like. Divide whip cream for layers. For the pineapple layer you will fold in 1/3 c. of pineapple curd to 1 1/2 c. fresh whipped cream; set aside. Repeat for top layer; set aside. For the blackberry layer you will fold in blackberry preserves to 1 1/2 c. fresh whipped cream; set aside.
Topping
-
In a 300 degree oven, toast 2 cups of coconut on a baking sheet, spread out in an even layer, about 8-12 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Allow to cool completely.
-
On a serving plate or cake stand, add one of the three cakes. Spread first batch of whipped cream with pineapple curd over the cake. Top with second cake, and spread whipped cream with blackberry preserves. Top with the last cake and spread the remaining whipped cream and pineapple curd. On the top of the cake, sprinkle with toasted coconut lightly over the top. Finish off with fresh blackberries and dust with powdered Lite&Sweet if desired. Refrigerate cake for at least 2 hours before serving, and store the leftovers in the fridge.
Recipe Notes
You'll use an entire can of coconut milk. I used the Thai Kitchen (13.66 oz) Organic Coconut Milk. Because the milk separates from the fat you'll want to place the entire can in a blender and blend until mixed well and creamy.
Lite&Sweet can be made into powdered sugar by blending at high speed in your blender for 10 seconds.
Pineapple curd recipe from Alaska From Scratch: http://www.alaskafromscratch.com/2012/07/20/pineapple-curd/
Adapted from A Latte Food
All about the battle. We were given 45 minutes to bake and decorate our cupcakes. We had prepped our station beforehand to make sure we had all the ingredients and supplies we needed. At the start of the timer Amber and I went right to work. Each of us had our designated assignments. I was in charge of the pineapple filling and frosting and Amber was in charge of the cupcake batter and getting them into the oven. It was a little hectic right at the beginning just because what isn’t hectic when you’re on a timer? But then once we got the first half of the recipe done we had a good chunk of time to stand around and relax. What? I know right. We cleaned our station and prepared for our cupcakes to be cooled to finish decorating them. With seconds to spare we plated five cupcakes for each of our judges. While our presentation wasn’t the best, we received a glowing review. In fact, each team did really well.I attempted to record my first FB LIVE during the competition, but unfortunately we weren’t able to get a strong enough connection without WIFI. However, there are a few videos that others recorded that you can check out here, here and here if you’d like to see (sadly none of them captured the announcement of the winners, but that’s OK). In the end our cupcake won for creativity. Of all the times the judges competed on the actual Cupcake Wars none of them had ever thought or had a cupcake like ours! We walked away with the title of winners but also with new friends, amazing memories, and a whole lot of Lite&Sweet ;)
The Competitors:
- Team: Dessert Divas | Cupcake: Pina Colada Cupcakes with Blackberry Frosting
- Amber Brady of Dessert Now Dinner Later
- Yvonne Feld of Tried and Tasty
- Team: Sassy Sprinkles | Cupcake: Gluten Free Raspberry Lime Mojito Cupcake
- Chrystal Carver of Gluten-Free Palate
- Brianna Hobbs of Flippin’ Delicious
- Team: Chocoholic Beets | Cupcake: Chocolate Cupcake with Pink Champagne Frosting
- Chloe Kincaid of The Chocoholic Baker
- Anna-Marie Walsh of Beauty and the Beets
- Team: Bake-A-Saurus | Cupcake: Irresistible Nutella French Cupcakes
- Jasmine Lukuku of The Blenderist
- Jessica Gavin of Jessica Gavin
The Judges:
- Glaucia Jones from Xlear
- Alisha Nuttall from Cravings Alisha’s Cupcakes
- Megan Faulkner Brown from The Sweet Tooth Fairy
- Erik & Cori Larsen from Heaven Cupcake
The Host:
- Justin Willman the former Food Network Cupcake Wars host
Sweet Happiness! A summer party must serve!
Yvonne
Awe, thanks Sommer! You’re so sweet for stopping by!
What a gorgeous cake! I love anything coconutty, it’s one of my most favourite flavours, would love to try your beautiful cake.
Yvonne
Thank you so much, it’s as tasty as it is beautiful – you’re very sweet!
I’m so glad you competed with me! It was so much fun! I don’t think I would have had as much fun with anyone else, so thank you! I can’t wait to try this version of our cupcake! Looks amazing!