Every March my birthday comes around and since I was a child my favorite birthday cake was always German Chocolate. My husband has gotten good at making this for me the last couple years. Last year he made the cake from scratch, awesome. This year I gave him a German chocolate cupcake recipe to try. It is great. After baking the cupcakes we cored out a bit of the center to put more of that delectable frosting in. Yum!
German Chocolate Cupcakes
1 bar (4 oz) German's sweet chocolate
1 pkg German chocolate cake mix
1 pkg (3.4 oz) vanilla instant pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
Coconut Pecan frosting, to follow
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 cupckae cups with paper liners. Set the pans aside.
To grate the chocolate, break the bar into pieces and drop them one at a time, through the feed tube of a food processor while it is running. Or, carefully rub the chocolate bar with a hand-held coarse cheese grater, such as a microplane. Set the grated chocolate aside.
Place the cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, water, oil, eggs and the grated chocolate in a large mixing bowl. Blend 30 seconds. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more. The batter should look thick and well combined. Spoon or scoop 1/3 cup batter into each lined cup, filling it three quarters of the way full. Place the pans in the oven.
Bake the cupcakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 19-22 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool on wire racks for 15 minutes before frosting.
Prepare the Coconut Pecan Frosting.
Place a heaping tablespoon of frosting on each cupcake and spread it out with a short metal spatula or a spoon. The frosting recipe makes a lot, and you may have extra frosting. Refrigerate any extra for later use.
Coconut Pecan Frosting
1 can (12 oz ) evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
4 large egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups sweetened flaked coconut (extra good if coconut is toasted first)
1 1/2 cups pecans
Place evaporated milk, sugar, butter, egg yolks and vanilla in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until thickened, golden brown and boiling, 10-12 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Stir in coconut and pecan and cool frosting to room temperature before spreading.
