Memorial Day Inspired Vanilla Lemon Cupcakes with Coconut Buttercream Frosting

For the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 12-count muffin/cupcake tin with paper or foil liners. Set aside.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment.

Add butter, sour cream, eggs, lemon zest and vanilla. Beat at medium speed until smooth and satiny. Scrape down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula and mix by hand until smooth and no flour pockets remain.

Using a ¼ cup scoop, spoon batter into muffin cups. Bake until cupcake tops are pale gold and toothpick or skewer inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 24 minutes.

Remove the cupcakes from tin and transfer to wire rack; cool cupcakes to room temperature before frosting.

For the Coconut Buttercream Frosting:
Using the wire whisk attachment of your stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl once or twice.

Reduce the speed to low and gradually add powdered sugar and Jell-O pudding mix. Once all of the powdered sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and add the milk and vanilla, mixing until incorporated. Whip at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed.

You can store any unused frosting in the refrigerator in an airtight container; let it come to room temperature and then give it a quick whip in the mixer before using.

For decorating:
Shake one third of the coconut in a Ziploc bag with a few drops of red food coloring and repeat another third of the coconut and blue food coloring in a separate bag. Separate each color into small bowls. Obviously not using any color on the final third of the “white” coconut.

Frost each cupcake with the buttercream. Sprinkle all the colors of coconut over each cupcake. Top with a cherry (optional). ENJOY!!!