He is risen, indeed

I've been too busy with Easter egg hunts and family brunches and dinners to be upcycling much. Instead of painting like I was planning to this weekend, I concocted some coconut lime cupcakes with coconut lime buttercream frosting and toasted coconut birds nests.

 

 

They were kind of yummy. Which means I'll be needing to do a whole lot of upcycling to pay for a new gym membership. I fabricated the recipe from a concerning mix of scratch and a boxed mix, so I may never be able to replicate these unless I write it out now:

Cupcakes (12 large--I used the giant cupcake liners)
1 box coconut cake mix
3 eggs
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup mayo (don't flip on me. You can use 1/3 cup oil if you are scared you'll taste the mayo, but it won't be as moist, and you'll have just as many calories with the oil)
1 small box vanilla pudding mix
1-2 tablespoons grated lime zest
juice from 1-2 limes

Dump all that into the Kitchenaid, mix until it's all blended, and then mix on high for 2 minutes. Bake at 350 for anywhere from 20-27 minutes until the toothpick comes out relatively clean.

Frosting (enough to frost 12 large cupcakes and eat a few spoonfuls along the way)
1 stick softened butter
1 stick crisco (if you measure it out, I think it's about a cup or so...you can use more butter instead of the crisco but it won't hold up as well)
a few tablespoons cold water
a half a pound or so of powdered sugar
a couple teaspoons of coconut flavoring
a couple teaspoons of vanilla flavoring
1 drop of green food coloring if you want the visible illusion of lime
juice from 1-2 limes
a handful or so of shredded coconut unless you are like a friend of mine who thinks that's like eating toenail clippings

Is it pretty obvious that I'm not a stickler for exact recipes?

Blend all that mess together, adding more powdered sugar and water to get your desired consistency. Pipe it or slap it on with a spoon. Top with toasted coconut (thin layer on a cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven until scorched, then try again with another pan and toast for about 10 minutes). I garnished the "nests" with those little robin's egg malt balls.

I might make some more tomorrow.