I recently saw on Flickr that the divine Miss Sue has been making cupcake towers out of vinyl records. How awesome! But I was so sad to read that she says she says she sucks at making cupcakes, because really, they’re so easy to make! I make cupcakes all the time,  so I thought I would share my super top secret recipe for Piña Colada cupcakes. 

These ones are a sinister green colour because I made them for the first birthday of my favourite cafe Green Land, but you can make them any colour you want. Here’s how:

1. Get yourself a box of vanilla cake mix. You can use your brand of choice, but I have a personal preference for Betty Crocker. 
2. Make the batter according to the box. Drain approximately half the juice of out of a can of crushed pineapple or pineapple chunks, and either save it for drinking or throw it away. Add all the fruit and the remaining juice to the batter. Add in a cup of desiccated or shredded coconut.  Stir it all well. 
3. Put the batter into muffin tins lined with paper/foil cases. If your local supermarket only has boring paper cases, check out your nearest $2 store or Spotlight for more interesting ones. 
4. Bake for about 15 minutes at 180 degrees. 
5. Toast some shredded coconut either under the grill or in a nonstick frypan. You can tell it’s toasted when it starts to smell lovely. If you want to replicate grass, add a couple of drops of food colouring. 
6. Your cake mix may have come with a packet of icing – if so, make this according to the directions. You’ll probably want more than it’s given you though, so add in extra icing sugar, soft butter, and also a spoonful of rum for flavour. Feel free to add food colouring at this stage if that’s how you roll. 
7. Slather the icing on top of the cupcakes and sprinkle with toasted coconut. Decorate how you see fit. In the photo pictured I used “Happy Birthday” confetti from the Dollar Save Store. They have all kinds of awesome stuff there. 
8. Share the cupcakes with good people. Enjoy!