Italian Cream Cake Cupcakes

I recently tried out this recipe when I brought a dessert to a luncheon.  It was really moist, and good.  I created one big rose pattern on top, this took a lot of icing, so triple the icing recipe if you are going to try this out.  I originally saw the cupcake recipe in the Cake Doctor's cook book, the icing recipe is just a basic cream cheese frosting, but it holds up well for decorating.  You could also sprinkle coconut flakes on top, but that sort of messed with my artistic vision for the sake of these cupcakes.  :O)   Speaking of cupcakes...I've been trying out a bunch of projects that involve non-cake cupcakes I'll be posting about in a week's worth of post sometime this fall.  ...as if I needed to delve deeper into the cupcake world. 

Italian Cream Cake Cupcake Recipe

Ingredients for Cupcakes:  1 pkg (18.25 oz) plain white cake mix, 1 1/3 c. water, 2 T vegetable oil, 3 large eggs, 2 t. coconut flavor, 2 c. (1 cup is for the batter, the second cup is for topping the iced cupcakes) sweetened flaked coconut, 1 c. finely chopped pecans. 

Instructions:  Beat all ingredients minus the coconut and pecans for 2-3 minutes.  Fold in pecans and 1 c. of coconut flakes.  Fill 22 cupcake liners.  Bake 18-20 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Icing:  8 oz cream cheese (softened), 4 oz of butter (softened), 2 t. of vanilla, 3 c. of powdered sugar.  Mix together until smooth. 
Store cupcakes in the refridgerator before eating, but let them set out for about an hour before serving. (Cupcakes taste better at room tempearature...I'm kind of an expert on eating cupcakes.)