The Cooking Vent: cupcakes

My husband claims that his favorite cake is German chocolate cake....

He also claims his favorite cake is Duncan Hines strawberry with rainbow chip icing (don't judge, that stuff is amazing! You should go take a lick right now of some rainbow chip icing)

And he LOVES lemon curd cupcakes.

So, it's not hard to please him. But German chocolate cake is not my favorite. So when he'd been asking for it, and I told him I was going to make it a little different, he seemed very skeptical. He kept asking "you're not going to mess with the frosting right?"

But I quickly won him over! German Chocolate Kahlua Cupcakes with Mascarpone Coconut Frosting! Yeah, he loved me after that. He didn't even mind that I "messed with the frosting".

P.S. We're moving this week! My husband and I have been apartment living for 2 years now, and we finally found a little house to rent that's very cute. It has a yard for the dog and a 2 car garage for "Sally" :). We're excited, we'll post pictures soon!

P.P.S. My camera battery died halfway through, so I only have the cake pictures, but I will do my best for directions on the frosting. It's not too bad, and it's SUPER yummy!

German Chocolate Kahlua Cupcakes (Adapted from: The Cake Mix Doctor and Sugar Plum)

Ingredients:

Cake:

1 package plain devil's food cake mix

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 cup Kahlua

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

Frosting:

2 large egg yolks

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/8 tsp. salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup mascarpone cheese

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup unsweetened, flaked coconut, toasted

3/4 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted

DIRECTIONS:

For Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place paper cups in 2 muffin tins.

2. Place the cake mix, cocoa, oil, eggs, Kahlua, and buttermilk in a bowl fitted with a mixer (or hand held mixer is fine), and mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down side of bowl, and continue mixing for 2 minutes, stopping and scraping sides of bowl if needed. Batter should look well combined.

2. Pour batter evenly among 24 cupcake liners and place in oven for ~ 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean (mine took 20 minutes, but check often since this was originally a cake recipe, so no set time) Allow to cool completely.

For Frosting:

1. On a small tray, place coconut and pecans, and toast in oven at 325 degrees for ~ 5 minutes....

But check VERY VERY FREQUENTLY... or else it will turn out like this....

hahaha

2. Whisk egg yolks together in a small bowl and set aside.

3. Whisk together cream, granulated sugar, and salt in a small saucepan on medium heat and bring to a boil; boil for ten minutes, whisking frequently, until mixture is thickened and light golden in color.

3. Gradually whisk half of the hot cream mixture into the egg yolks until well combined. Then pour egg and cream mixture back into the other half of the cream mixture in the saucepan until thoroughly combined (I know this sounds tedious, but you do it this way so you don't scramble the egg yolks). Set aside, and let mixture cool for 15 minutes.

4. In a large mixing bowl, beat together mascarpone and vanilla on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Beat in cooled egg mixture until well combined. Stir in toasted and cooled pecans and coconut until well combined. Place in refrigerator or freezer to chill until reaches desired consistency (you want it a little thick, but not so thick it will break your cupcakes when spreading). I placed mine in freezer for ~ 15 min before it was ready to use.

5. Frost your cupcakes! They are so YUMMY!

I have a slight obsession with cupcakes.. if you haven't already noticed with these Gooey Chocolate Cupcakes, and these Mini Chocolate Ganache Cakes. I know the Mini Cakes are actually cakes, but they are MINI cakes.

I love cupcakes. They are the perfect dessert. And I especially love them since I bought these amazing little things. Especially for only $3.95 each. I couldn't even find them that cheap at Target, Ross, anywhere...

I made these pink champagne cupcakes for a wedding shower for a friend and fellow OT at work last week. They are so pretty! And super moist. I love having the option for a shower like that of having regular cupcakes and mini cupcakes for people who maybe don't want a whole cupcake. And the secret is: THEY ARE SO EASY! You just use a cake mix and add champagne!

The hubby and I are heading to Vegas to visit some friends this weekend! I can't wait!! I'll post some pictures next week. What are you doing for 4th of July???

Pink Champagne Cupcakes (From: bettycrocker.com):

Cupcakes:

1 box Betty Crocker white cake mix

1 1/4 cups champagne (I used Beringer sparkling white zinfandel)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 egg whites

4-5 drops red food coloring

Champagne Frosting:

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup champagne

1 tsp. vanilla

4-5 drops red food coloring

Garnish - Pink Sanding Sugar (recipe follows):

1/8 cup white sugar

1/4 - 1/2 drop red food coloring

DIRECTIONS:

FOR CAKE

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees (325 degrees for dark or non-stick pans). Line 24 regular sized or 48 mini cupcake pans with paper cupcake liners - I used 1 large pan and 2 mini pans.

2. In large bowl, combine dry cake mix and champagne. Add oil, eggs, and food color. Beat with electric mixer on medium speed for 2 min. Divide batter evenly among muffin pans.