These chocolate coconut cupcakes have a super soft and moist coconut cupcake that's loaded up with coconut flavor thanks to shredded coconut, coconut oil, and coconut milk. It's then topped with my favorite chocolate frosting, and then sprinkled with even more shredded coconut! If you love a bounty bar, then you are going to love these soft and fluffy chocolate coconut cupcakes.

Coconut cupcakes with chocolate frosting, sprinkled with shredded coconut. One cupcake has a bite taken out of it.

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When you were a kid and trick-or-treating at Halloween, were you trading your bounty bars for something else? I know so many people who were not fans of a bounty bar, but it is truly an elite candy bar to me. It's up there with a Reese's peanut butter cup and a Butterfinger. I said what I said!!

These chocolate coconut cupcakes are basically a bounty bar in cupcake form! I've used my favorite vanilla cupcake recipe, which is super soft and moist thanks to sour cream and oil. I swapped out neutral oil for coconut oil, milk for coconut milk, and then added in some shredded coconut for maximum coconut flavor.

To keep the frosting simple, I just used my tried and true chocolate American buttercream, but you could get fancy and use my whipped chocolate ganache!

If you want more cupcake recipes (hi, who doesn't) then you need to try my chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting or easy Nutella filled cupcakes. Or if you're a coconut lover like me, try my coconut chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

Go Nuts for these Coconut Cupcakes!

Sorry, that was cheesy

Simple to Make: these are a very easy cupcake recipe. You will still need a mixer or handheld mixer to make the cupcakes and the frosting, but they're both really straight forward recipes.
Tons of Coconut Flavor: you're getting so much coconut flavor from the coconut oil, coconut milk, and shredded coconut! I almost put in coconut extract, but when testing this recipe, I preferred how it tasted without it, it tastes more naturally like coconut without it!

Grab Your Ingredients!

All the ingredients needed to make chocolate coconut cupcakes, weighed out into small bowls.

Coconut Oil: try to use coconut oil that isn't odorless. We want coconut oil that smells and tastes like coconut! If you don't have coconut oil, swap it out for vegetable oil. I'm using solid coconut oil as it wasn't warm enough for it to be melted in my kitchen.
Coconut Milk: use the type that comes in a can that you have to shake, not in a carton.
Shredded Coconut: these coconut cupcakes are already plenty sweet, so I recommend using unsweetened shredded coconut!
Sour Cream: this is going to make the cupcakes super soft and moist.
Cocoa Powder: I prefer using Dutch-processed cocoa powder for my chocolate frosting. It's richer in flavor, more chocolatey, and darker. You can swap it out for natural cocoa powder in a pinch though, I won't tell on you.

How to Make These Cupcakes

You can find the full recipe below, but let's walk through the steps!

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350ºF and line a cupcake pan with liners. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Creamed butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.

Step 2: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter with the coconut oil and sugar until light and fluffy.

A yellow cupcake batter in a glass mixing bowl.

Step 3: Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Mix in the sour cream. Then add the dry ingredients. Finally, slowly pour in the coconut milk.

A yellow cupcake batter with shredded coconut in a glass mixing bowl.

Step 4: Stir in the shredded coconut, mixing until just combined.

Unbaked coconut cupcakes in a cupcake pan.

Step 5: Fill the prepared liners with cupcake batter so they're ¾ full. I like to use a medium cookie scoop to do that! Bake in the preheated oven for 18-22 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Chocolate frosting in a glass mixing bowl.

Step 6: Once the cupcakes have cooled, make the frosting. Beat all the ingredients together until light and fluffy. If you need it to be creamier, add in heavy cream.

Coconut cupcakes with chocolate frosting, sprinkled with shredded coconut.

Better than bakery cupcakes!

Only fill up the cupcake liners so they're ¾ full. If you overfill the liners, the cupcakes will overflow in the oven and you won't have those cute little cupcake tops.
Let the cupcakes cool COMPLETELY. If you try to frost even slightly warm cupcakes, it's going to be a mess and the frosting will slip and melt off.
I used a Wilton 1M piping tip, this is my go-to piping tip that I use for almost all of my cupcakes! But feel free to use your favorite piping tip.
Make sure the ingredients are at room temperature before you start this recipe, the ingredients will mix together better and you'll have a smoother batter.
Not a chocolate fan? Swa out the chocolate frosting for a creamy raspberry buttercream!

Storage

I recommend keeping these cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Let the cupcake come to room temperature before enjoying!

Make these cupcake recipes next!

Ella from Alpine Ella is holding a cake stand with cupcakes on it.

Made This Recipe?

Make sure to leave a ⭐️ rating and review below! You can tag me on Instagram @alpineella or follow along on Pinterest, Facebook and TikTok!

Thank you!

Ella