COCONUT CUPCAKES WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

I figured out that most households are divided when it comes to coconut. Between my parents, mom loves coconut (go figure that an islander loves coconut) and my dad hates it. Between Ry's parents, his mom hates coconut and his dad loves it. Between my bosses who are married, Mary loves coconut while Earl hates it. Between Ry & myself, Ryan loves it while, in the words of Woody Harrelson in the movie ZOMBIELAND, "I hate coconut. Not the taste! It's the consistency." 

I used to eat the shit out of Snowballs when I was a kid. I think that may be the reason why I don't care for the consistency of coconut now, I just got burnt out on it. I'm still known to cook with coconut oil and coconut milk, but when it comes to shredded coconut, I'll turn my nose up at it 90% of the time. 

Now, not only have I noticed that households divide on their favor of coconut, I also noticed that the one who enjoys coconut makes the sacrifice of not keeping it around the house in sake of their significant half. My mother doesn't keep it around. Nor does Ry's father. Nor does Mary. Nor do I, really.. shredded coconut, that is. 

So Ry's dad's birthday was coming up and the man is incredibly difficult to shop for. You would think it'd be easy to shop for someone who loves movies, history & reading, but he insists that he doesn't want any movies or books as a gift. I think that's more of a ploy for us to not spend any money on his behalf, but we try to be clever and think of gifts that can work around his stipulations. I figured that my gift to him would be.. coconut cupcakes! 

I had some left over to give as freebies for the other coconut lovers I love. My boss and mother were eternally grateful. If you saw the look on their face, you would think they literally struck gold when they saw coconut under their noses. And all my loved coconut lovers thought the cupcakes were delectable. Ry's mother (who hates coconut) even rolled her eyes in the back of her head when she tried one. I mostly think it was because she was simply enjoying homemade cupcakes more than coconut cupcakes. Even though I enjoyed the cupcakes too, I just wish there was more of a lime flavor in the frosting. I thought I was clever when I had "you put the lime in the coconut" song stuck in my head while making them, but the lime just wasn't prominent enough for me to say it out loud. Next time I believe I'll use actual lime juice instead of the bottled stuff.