Maui Wowi Pineapple Cupcakes

I love pina coladas, I love pineapple, coconut.. and everything tropical! So I decided to make some pina colada type cupcakes and since we went to Maui for our honeymoon and had the most delicious pineapple we've ever had I decided to call them Maui Wowi's.

This is a nice tasty pineapple cake with coconut buttercream icing, rolled in flaked coconut and topped with a piece of candied pineapple.. they were heavenly.. just like Maui!

This recipe makes 24 cupcakes

Pineapple Cake
2 1/3 cup of flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
14 oz. can of pineapple (I like Maui Gold.. you can find it at Costco)
1/4 cup pineapple juice (reserved from can of pineapple)
1 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup margarine (or butter)
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Coconut Buttercream
3 cups icing sugar
1 cup butter
2 tsp coconut extract

1 cup flaked sweetened coconut
24 pieces of candied pineapple

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder, set aside.

Cream the margarine and sugar together, then add the eggs and vanilla and beat again until light and fluffy.

Add 1/4 cup of pineapple juice to the 1 cup of buttermilk, and in three additions alternately add the flour mixture and the milk mixture to the margarine/sugar mixture until well mixed. Then gently fold in the pineapple.

Pour into 24 muffin cups and bake in the oven for about 30 - 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool.

While they are cooling you can make your icing by mixing the icing sugar and butter together until nice and creamy. Add the coconut extract and mix well (taste test to see if you'd like to add more extract or if it's strong enough for your liking).

Once the cupcakes have cooled ice them with the icing and then roll the icing topped cupcakes in the flaked coconut and top with a piece of candied pineapple.

Enjoy!!!