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These Pina Colada Cupcakes are made with moist and fluffy pineapple cake topped with a delicious coconut frosting! Inspired by the classic cocktail, these cupcakes are perfect for summer!
Pina Colada Cupcakes
This post is sponsored by Challenge Dairy, but all opinions are my own.
I have always been quite a fan of pina coladas. It’s hard not to be. The coconut and pineapple are just perfect together. And it just makes you feel like you should be on a beach somewhere with beautiful weather, a tan and some great beach music. The perfect summer drink – and even better in cupcake form!
These cupcakes are quite easy to make. To start, the creaming process is used which helps makes the cupcake super light and fluffy. Please, please do not skimp on the creaming. The butter and sugar should be beaten together for 3 to 4 minutes. You’ll notice the color of the mixture lighten and the texture will become light and fluffy. The process adds air to the batter and without it, you’ll end up with a denser cupcake.
Of course I’d recommend a great quality butter, like Challenge Dairy butter, as well. One of the things I love about their butter is that it’s an all-natural butter with no hormones, additives or fillers. They were the first brand to make dairy products without growth hormones. It’s also super fresh and Challenge controls the whole process of making the butter – from milking the cows all the way to packaging. Gotta love that!
Once you’ve got your butter and sugar creamed, sour cream is added. I love the flavor and moisture that sour cream adds to a cupcake! The rest of the ingredients are pretty straightforward – egg whites, flour (all purpose keeps it simple), baking powder, pineapple juice and crushed pineapple. You should end up with a batter that is delicious and ready for baking! And if your husband is anything like mine, he’ll be right behind you waiting to lick the empty bowl when you’re done. 🙂
Once the cupcakes are baked and cooled, they’re topped with a wonderful coconut frosting. I added a touch of pineapple juice to it as well, just to boost that flavor a bit. There’s even a touch of rum, but that could easily be substituted with some water or milk, if you prefer.
To finish off the cupcakes, they’ve got a rim of coconut around the edge, a cherry and little piece of pineapple. If you hold a little coconut loosely in the palm of your hand, it should be pretty easy to press it onto the sides of the cupcakes. If you like, you could even stick a little straw in them – and you’re done! A fun, summery, delicious cupcake!
Pina Colada Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12-15 Cupcakes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These Pina Colada Cupcakes are made with moist and fluffy pineapple cake topped with a delicious coconut frosting! Inspired by the classic cocktail, these cupcakes are perfect for summer!
Ingredients
CUPCAKES
- 6 tbsp (84g) Salted Challenge Butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cups (155g) sugar
- 6 tbsp (86g) sour cream
- 3 egg whites
- 1 1/4 cups (163g) all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup (120ml) pineapple juice*
- 4 tbsp crushed pineapple
FROSTING AND TOPPING
- 3/4 cup (168g) Salted Challenge Butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (95g) shortening
- 5 cups (575g) powdered sugar
- 1 tsp coconut extract
- 2 tbsp (30ml) pineapple juice*
- 1/2 tbsp coconut rum
- 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
- Sliced pineapple, cut into pieces
- 12–15 maraschino cherries
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C) and prepare a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Do not skimp on the amount of creaming time.
3. Add sour cream and mix until well combined.
4. Add egg whites in two batches, mixing until well combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
5. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until well combined. Add the pineapple juice and mix until well combined. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined.
6. Stir in the crushed pineapple and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
7. Fill cupcake liners about halfway. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs.
8. Remove cupcakes from oven and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to finish cooling.
9. While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. Beat the butter and shortening together until smooth.
10. Add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
11. Add the coconut extract, pineapple juice and coconut rum and mix until smooth.
12. Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth.
13. Pipe the frosting on top of the cupcakes with a swirl. I used Ateco tip 808, a large round icing tip.
14. To decorate the cupcakes, lightly press the coconut flakes onto the sides of the cupcakes then top them with a piece of pineapple and a cherry.
*For the pineapple juice in the cupcakes and frosting, I used the juice from the cans of crushed and sliced pineapple used in the cupcakes and in the frosting. I used an 8 oz can of crushed pineapple (for the cupcakes) and an 8 oz can of sliced pineapple (for the frosting and topping)
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cupcake
- Calories: 437
- Sugar: 48.2 g
- Sodium: 27.4 mg
- Fat: 22.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 59 g
- Protein: 2.5 g
- Cholesterol: 38.3 mg
Filed Under:
Enjoy!
Hi Lindsay, i was wondering since you mentioned you used an 8oz can of crushed pineapple for the cake, would I still need to measure out the liquid and pineapple separately, or can I safely use the 8oz can and save myself a step? I absolutely love that your recipes use grams for measurements 🙂 thank you xx
I used an 8 oz can, but if remember correctly, I didn’t need all of the juice. I’d measure it to be sure. 🙂
I was just nervous with the tablespoons of crushed pineapple and wanted to be sure I had it right since there were no grams on it. Thank you for the super duper quick response 🙂
Can I add coconut rum to the cupcake batter? If so do I use half rum half juice? Or are there other changes as well?
The pineapple flavor will be a little lighter that way, but you can do it without making other changes.
Hi Lindsay! I love your blog and have tried many of your recipes. I made the layered pina colada cake for a party and everyone loved it! I wanted to try the cupcakes and wanted to know if I can substitute the rum for coconut essence?
Sure, I’d try maybe 1/2 tsp of coconut extract and then add more if you think it needs it.
If these are not served immediately, what do you recommend for storing?
I typically store at room temperature in a well sealed container, with my frosting as half butter and half shortening. If you use an all butter frosting though, I’d refrigerate them.
Hello! I’d love to make these soon. Can I use fresh pineapple? Would I just need to manually crush it? Also, could I use unsalted butter? How much salt would I need to add to the recipe? Thanks so much.
Fresh pineapple should be fine. Yes, just crush it. If you use unsalted butter, add 1/4 tsp of salt. Enjoy them!
The taste of the cakes came out great! However, when I put the frosting on, the cakes squished. The structure is so light and fluffy, the weight of the frosting was too much. Do you have any tips for the next time I make these, Lindsay? I’d like the cake a little less fluffy for structure purposes.
Hmmm, I’ve definitely not had that happen with this cupcake or any that are similar. They are definitely fluffy cupcakes, but they shouldn’t collapse under the frosting.
I am confused by the amount of flour. Your volume measurement is 1 1/4 cups but you have grams at 163. However, 163 grams equals 2/3 cup. Which amount is correct? Thanks.
Per the measurements I use, 1 1/4 cups is 163g. I know there are different measurements all over the place for that, but that’s the weight I use. Feel free to take a look at my conversion chart, if it helps.
I’m wanting to do a beach theme birthday party for my son and thinking these would be great! Would it work to add food colouring to the icing (and omit the coconut flakes) so that it could fit into the theme colours?
I would think that’d be fine.
I made these cupcakes and they were so delicious! The frosting was perfect. Thank you for a great recipe!
I’m glad you enjoyed them!
What can I substitute the coconut rum with, for the frosting/topping?
You could just use some water or milk.
Hi, I made your cupcakes and they turned out gorgeous! Thank you for the recipe. I only tweaked the frosting recipe so that I could get a better rum and pineapple flavour.
I’m glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Hi have you ever tried white russian cupcakes; )
No but that sounds delicious! Great idea! 🙂
I love the combination of pineapple and coconut so when I came across this recipe I was really excited about making them.
I decided to make them for my boyfriend’s birthday and although the flavor was there, the cupcake itself didn’t turn out the way it should, it wasn’t fluffy at all, it felt weird…
I followed the instructions just like the recipe says, and I really don’t know what could have happened .. 🙁
Hmm, it’s hard to know what happened without having been there or having more a description. One thing that often happens is that people don’t fully cream the butter and sugar and that will give you a denser cupcake than intended. Be sure that you cream for the full time and that the butter and sugar mixer gets light in color and has a fluffy (and almost thick) texture.
I’m planning on making these for a birthday party but I need 24 cupcakes, do you think doubling it would work? Also should I double the frosting?
Yes, I’d double everything. It should work just fine. 🙂 Enjoy!
Although here in Brazil the normal pairing for pineapple is mint (it’s delicious), I have tried the pineapple/coconut combo and it’s great.
Definitely need to try this. But is there a substitute for sour cream? We don’t have it here…
Wow! I never would’ve thought to pair pineapple and mint – I’ll have to try it! 🙂 To replace the sour cream, I think yogurt would probably work or using additional milk, but I must admit I haven’t tried them to know for sure.
I have a question about baking that I’m sure you can help me with. While I love the look of cupcakes I don’t ever make them. Is there a way to determine from a recipe what size baking pan you can convert a cupcake recipe to. For instance, in your recipe there is 1 and 1/4 cups of flour. If I wanted to convert it to a baking pan, is there a formula for conversion to say an 8 inch baking pan. If I read a different recipe that had 3 cups of flour and 1 cup of sugar, would that translate to a 9X13 pan, or two 9 inch round pans. I liked the idea of making your recipe because it’s a smaller size, but I don’t know whether it would convert to an 8 inch pan or a 9 inch round. If you have any idea how to answer my question, I’d appreciate your thoughts. In our family, there is just my husband and myself so I don’t want to make large cakes. That’s why I’m excited about this recipe—I just don’t want to make cupcakes.
It can be hard to say that there’s an exact formula because cakes can vary so much in how they bake with just minor differences in ingredients. It’d be hard for me to say how someone else’s recipe would bake. As far as this recipe goes, you could definitely use the same amount of ingredients in an 8 inch pan and expect a single layer that’s about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in height. For two people, I’m sure it’d be great. You’d likely need to bake the one layer for somewhere between 25-30 minutes. I hope that helps!
I love a good cocktail-themed cupcake. Bring on summer and LOTS of these!