Piña Colada Cupcakes

So the summer is coming to a close, but we still want to hang on to the laid back summer feel. How can we do this? With a drink that makes you think of paradise - Piña Coladas! So...doing what I do...it's gotta be a cupcake!

These tasty little gems were inspired by adding Jell-O's summertime edition flavor pudding. I was going to add it to my batter for the umph. My first batch tasted so yummy...but they didn't set up right & I couldn't figure it out. As I finished baking them (thinking it was the pudding addition), I realized I forgot something really important: eggs. *sigh* So I had to redo them...

I went to try to find more of the pudding mix, but my close-by stores didn't have it. So I had to be creative. I used pineapple juice, coconut extract & rum extract to get my flavoring right. I added actual coconut to the bottom of each baking liner, too. I topped each one with the same flavored buttercream - Piña Colada! I made the regular buttercream & added crushed pineapple (drained), coconut (plus some extract), and rum extract so the flavor would be consistent throughout the whole cupcake. I also cut several pineapple slices into 1/8s & baked them on a separate cookie sheet to dehydrate them a bit so I could garnish the top of each cupcake with a piece.

I am so pleased with how these turned out! They turned out quite a bit better than my Margarita Cupcakes, for sure!

Now, can someone please have a luau so I can bring them?