....and we'll all float on, okay

I'm not a big soda drinker. It is pretty rare to open up our fridge and see a soda. Juice? Milk? Water? Tea? Oh yeah....soda? Almost never. If we do buy soda, it's usually because we are planning on having pizza, and nothing goes better with pizza than a cherry flavored soda. Usually we go with W.C. (my and my husband's code for Wild Cherry Pepsi.) If W.C. isn't available, then 2nd choice will be Cherry Coke. Anyway, when I first decided to do this 52 week challenge,  a Cherry Coke Float cupcake was one of the first recipes I promised I'd make. Almost completely finished with the challenge, I still hadn't made this one!! (It was probably because I didn't have any coke on hand!) Well, almost 1 year later, I am finally proud to say that the Cherry Coke Float has been done....and it was worth the wait!! The cupcake itself is my chocolate cake, slightly amended. Inside each cupcake there is a cherry surprise, which is topped with a coke glaze, and some slightly sweetened whipped topping. This is a super yummy cupcake that could really be featured any time, but with Valentine's Day coming up, why not make some then?!?!?

Cherry Coke Float Cupcake

Chocolate Cupcake
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c baking cocoa (Valrhona)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c whole milk
1/2 c coke


For the filling:
1 can cherry pie filling

For the coke glaze
Inspired by Pass the Sushi
1 1/2 c confectioners' sugar
1/4 c coke

For the frosting:
Inspired by Pass the Sushi
1 1/2 c whipping cream
6 Tbsp confectioners' sugar


Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your muffin pan with cupcake liners. In a medium bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together, then set aside. In a large measuring cup combine milk and coke, and set aside.

In your mixer bowl cream together butter and sugar, for about 2 minutes. Once it's nice and fluffy add your eggs, one at a time, and continue to beat for another minute until mixture is smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and mix until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low, then slowly add 1/3 of your flour mixture, followed by 1/2 of your milk mixture. Repeat this, then finish by adding last bit of flour mixture. Mix only until just combined. Remove mixer bowl, and stir a few times through with spatula, to ensure everything is incorporated well.

Grab your scooper and scoop batter into cupcake liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until tops bounce back when touched. Cool in pans for about 5 min, then remove to cooling racks.

** Place your clean mixer bowl in the fridge and chill for 15 minutes, while you fill cupcakes **

Once cupcakes cool, core them out and fill each with 1 cherry from the pie filling can, and fill the rest of the hole up with the cherry pie filling glaze. Set cupcakes aside. Prepare your glaze by whisking together confectioners' sugar and coke. Whisk until sugar dissolves completely. Spoon over cored/filled cupcakes.

Pull your chilled mixer bowl out of fridge and pour whipping cream in it. Using whisk attachment, whip on medium speed until froamy. Increase mixer speed to medium high, and slowly add sugar, 1 Tbsp at a time. Whip together until stiff peaks form. Fill piping bag with frosting, then pipe over cupcakes. top with a stemmed maraschino cherry, then dig IN!

Ode to Almond Joy

There is no denying the fact that I love sweets. I'm a sucker for the candy display in the grocery store checkout lines. Of all the different candy selections, my most likely go-to is an Almond Joy. As I previously mentioned, my husband doesn't like coconut, so this is pretty much the only candy bar that I am not obligated to give him a bite of. The worst part about an Almond Joy is the fact that it isn't very big, and before I know it, it's gone.

I've had my eye on this recipe for a while, but finally was able to make it. Can you believe that I had to talk my husband into actually eating one? I don't think he actually ate one until the day after they had been prepared. Weirdo.

The chocolate cupcake is my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe. The filling is an attempt to recreate the filling of the actual Almond Joy candy bar - a combination of cream of coconut and actual shaved coconut. The frosting recipe I actually found on another blog, and it was A-maaaazing! It wasn't too coconutty, nor was it too rich. It was light, and smooth, with just enough coconut flavor to bring the cupcake together.

Almond Joy Cupcake

Chocolate Cupcake:
Recipe available here on my blog

For the filling: 
Inspired from A Cup of Sugar A Pinch of Salt
1 c shredded coconut, sweetened
3/4 c creme of coconut

For the frosting:
Inspired from A Cup of Sugar A Pinch of Salt
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c shortening
3 c confectioners' sugar
1 can coconut milk, reduced to about 1/2 c
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the garnish:
Chocolate ganache (My recipe listed here)
Whole almonds

Prepare cupcake recipe according to my blog entry:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your muffin pan with cupcake liners. In a medium bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together, then set aside. In a large measuring cup combine milk and water, and set aside.

In your mixer bowl cream together butter and sugar, for about 2 minutes. Once it's nice and fluffy add your eggs, one at a time, and continue to beat for another minute until mixture is smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and mix until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low, then slowly add 1/3 of your flour mixture, followed by 1/2 of your milk mixture. Repeat this, then finish by adding last bit of flour mixture. Mix only until just combined. Remove mixer bowl, and stir a few times through with spatula, to ensure everything is incorporated well.

Grab your scooper and scoop batter into cupcake liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until tops bounce back when touched. Cool in pans for about 5 min, then remove to cooling racks.
While cupcakes cool, prepare your filling and frosting.

Start by reducing your coconut milk. Pour can of coconut milk in 2 qt saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce temperature to medium-low. Keep on low boil/simmer, stirring often, until it's reduced down to about 1/2 a cup. This took me about 35-40 minutes. Pour about 1/3 c into measuring cup, and allow to cool completely. While this cools, prepare your coconut filling.

Combine cream of coconut (found in liquor stores, or in alcoholic beverage area of grocery store) and shaved coconut. Stir together until nice and thick. Add more coconut, if needed. Core out cooled cupcakes and use a pastry bag (with no tip) to fill insides with cream. Set these aside, and finish preparing your frosting.

Cream together butter, shortening, vanilla, and 1/3 c coconut milk. Once smooth, add confectioners' sugar, until completely combined. If frosting is too stiff, go ahead and add a bit more of the cooled milk, until desired consistency is reached. Pipe or spread frosting over cupcakes, and drizzle with ganache, if desired...then top with an almond!

Enjoy!!

From Germany with Love

I. Love. German. Chocolate.Cake. It's as simple as that. My mom didn't bake much when I was young, and when she did the cakes usually started from a cake mix. Nothing compared to when she baked a Devil's Food cake and topped it with that Pecan-Coconut frosting from the plastic tub. Mmmmmm......so good! That was always one of my favorite cakes she made and probably still is. I bake all my cupcakes from scratch, but there's nothing wrong with the occasional cake mix, right? Especially when you top said cake with that frosting. 

Anyway, I've known that I've wanted to make a German Choc cupcake for a while, but I didn't because my husband doesn't like coconut. (I KNOW! How bizzare!) I've actually put off making quite a few different coconutty cupcakes because of that. Well NO MORE! Don't be surprised if you see some cupcakes popping up soon that consist of coconut. He may take the amazing pics that you get to see on this site, but I'm the baker, right? Right. These chocolate cupcakes were my go-to chocolate cupcake, which consist of Valrhona cocoa. I then topped them with a delish pecan-coconut frosting I found here. Of course, we needed a nice fudge frosting to hold in the coconutty goodness, which was also found here.

German Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c baking cocoa (Valrhona)
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 c granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c whole milk
1/2 c water

Pecan-Coconut Frosting:
Inspired by Barefoot and Baking
1 can evaporated milk (12 oz)
1 c granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
1 stick unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 c shredded, sweetened coconut
3/4 c chopped pecans

Fudge Buttercream Frosting:
Inspired by Barefoot and Baking
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted then cooled
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
3 c confectioners' sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa powder (Valrhona)
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp water
3 1/2 Tbsp milk

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your muffin pan with cupcake liners. In a medium bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together, then set aside. In a large measuring cup combine milk and water, and set aside.

In your mixer bowl cream together butter and sugar, for about 2 minutes. Once it's nice and fluffy add your eggs, one at a time, and continue to beat for another minute until mixture is smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and mix until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low, then slowly add 1/3 of your flour mixture, followed by 1/2 of your milk mixture. Repeat this, then finish by adding last bit of flour mixture. Mix only until just combined. Remove mixer bowl, and stir a few times through with spatula, to ensure everything is incorporated well.

Grab your scooper and scoop batter into cupcake liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until tops bounce back when touched. Cool in pans for about 5 min, then remove to cooling racks.
While cupcakes cool, prepare your pecan-coconut mixture.

Combine evaporated milk, sugar, yolks, butter, and vanilla in a 2 qt saucepan. Stir constantly until everything is melted together, and is thick. Make sure that this does not boil. You'll know it's ready when it coats the back of a wooden spoon. This took me about 30 minutes. Once thick enough, stir in coconut and pecans. Set aside to cool.

While this is cooling, prepare your frosting. Place chocolate chips in microwave safe dish and melt for 30 seconds. Remove, stir, and repeat until chips are melted. Allow to cool. Pour melted chips into mixer bowl, along with butter, sugar, cocoa, and vanilla. Add about 2 Tbsp milk and whip together, add more milk/water until desired consistency is reached. (My exact measurements are above)

Pipe boarder around top of each cupcake which will act as your barrier for your pecan-coconut topping. Once you've done this, use a spoon to scoop pecan-coconut frosting within barrier.

Ta-DA! German Chocolate cupcake -- delish!