Italian Cream Cupcakes

I have a strange relationship with baked goods I learned to cook before I learned to bake, so my cooking skills have always been a step ahead of my baking ones. Which at some point made me really angry. Why can I cook a pretty okay four course meal but fail miserably at making a decent cookie? Good baking contains some sort of magic ingredient, which arguably is different for every baker and every baked good. Sometimes it's patience, sometimes it's extra cinnamon, who knows? Here's the most important thing I learned along the way. Great and inspired cooking requires flexibility and willingness to experiment with flavor and ingredients, but great baking is a precise science, you HAVE to learn the science before you can get creative with the "extras". My recommendation: Subscribe to America's test Kitchen online and really pay attention to the articles. Then, start making their recipes and you'll start to understand what their lessons are really talking about.

On the other side of the coin, I don't really have a sweet tooth. I will bake all day long in an attempt to make the prefect cookie, but I will only actually end up eating one or maybe two of them. I typically give the rest away. So if I can actually manage to bake something that I want to eat more than one of, I know it's a success. My least favorite baked good is cake. Which means cupcakes are in the same category. They're just too much sweetness...Until I met this recipe. It is adapted from a recipe out of Cuisine at Home magazine (not sure of the issue).

Despite my non-favor of cake, I'll eat at least two of these!

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon table salt 2 cups sugar 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened ( 1 1/2 c) 6 eggs, separated 2 tablespoons hazelnut syrup 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup buttermilk 2 cups sweetened flaked coconut, toasted 1 cup hazelnuts, toasted, skinned, chopped Cream Cheese Icing 16 ounces cream cheese, softened 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened ( 1 1/ c) 3 tablespoons hazelnut syrup 3 tablespoons heavy cream 1 lb powdered sugar, sifted

Directions

Preheat oven to 325F

Line two 12 cup muffin pans with paper liners and coat with nonstick spray.

Separate the egg, placing the whites in a mixing bowl with wire whips. Whip the egg whites in a mixing bowl until stiff peaks form. Set aside for later use.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl; set aside.

Cream sugar and butter in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment on medium speed until white and fluffy; about 5 minutes. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition; mix in syrup and vanilla until incorporated.

Mix 1/2 the dry ingredients into butter mixture, followed by the buttermilk, then remaining dry ingredients; blend until just incorporated.

Fold in the egg whites, coconut and hazelnuts.

Fill each muffin cup to the top and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes then remove from the pan and let cool the rest of the way.

For the icing:

Place butter and cream cheese and cream in a mixer and stir until well combined and slightly fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until well combined and stiff enough to hold it's shape on your cupcakes. Adding powdered sugar as necessary.

Top each cupcake with toasted coconut and sprinkle with hazelnuts.