Chocolate Coconut Porter Cupcakes

Thank goodness I am not one of those types of people that just run into the grocery store for exactly what I need and run out. I enjoy going to the grocery store; I like to look around and find new things and ingredients.  If I didn’t do that I would have never found the coconut porter by Maui brewing company. I enjoy beer very much, in fact the other half and I brew our own beer, but I love to try new ones. When I saw the coconut porter I knew I had to try it and I knew I had to bake with it. So you guys get to reap the reward of my fondness of beer and cupcakes.

When I took them out of the oven, I couldn’t believe how perfect they looked. These were the best looking cupcakes I have ever baked. I could smell the chocolate and coconut and a faint smell of the beer. (Maybe it was the one I was drinking, but I still smelled it none the less) I could not wait to get these put together so I could devour one. And boy did I! They are perfectly moist with just right balance of chocolaty and coconuty goodness. The beer just adds richness to the cupcake. The co-workers loved them, and a couple even said they were the best cupcake they have ever had.

Chocolate Coconut Porter Cupcakes 

(Makes 24 cupcakes) 

Cupcakes 

Ingredients: 

1(12oz) can Maui coconut porter 

1 stick unsalted butter

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 ½ tsp coconut extract 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

2 eggs

1 (8oz) container sour cream 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350F and line muffin tin with cupcake liners. 

In a medium saucepan, combine coconut porter and butter and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Then whisk in cocoa powder until smooth and let cool.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. 

In a large bowl, beat eggs, sour cream, and coconut and vanilla extract until smooth. Add cooled chocolate mixture to the sour cream and eggs and beat until just combined. 

Slowly add dry ingredients and beat briefly on a slow speed, scraping down sides as needed. 

Fill each cupcake paper 3/4 of the way full. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 17-18 minutes  (Mine baked for 17 minutes and came out perfect) 

Remove cupcakes from oven and let cool 10 minutes before removing from pan and placing on wire rack. 

Cool completely before filling.

Filling 

Ingredients: 

1 (5.1 oz) box vanilla pudding 

1 (13.5 oz) can coconut milk 

1/4 cup heavy cream 

1 cup flaked coconut 

¼ tsp coconut extract 

Direction: 

Whisk together until thick and creamy. Stir in coconut. Chill until ready to use.

Frosting 

Ingredients: 

1 cup butter (2 sticks, room temp) 

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

3/4 cup cocoa powder

6 cups confectioners’ sugar, divided

5 fl oz coconut milk 

1 tbsp Maui coconut porter

1 tsp coconut extract 

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

toasted shredded coconut (for garnish, I made about a cup) 

Directions: 

In a small, microwave safe bowl, melt unsweetened chocolate. Heat in 30-45 second intervals, stirring frequently, until mixture is smooth. (I let mine sit on top of the stove, in a glass bowl, on top of a burner, while the oven preheated and in melted perfectly.) Let cool to room temperature. 

Transfer chocolate to a larger bowl. Beat in butter, cocoa powder, confectioners’ sugar, coconut milk, coconut porter, coconut and vanilla extract, and salt, (basically everything else) :) beating until frosting is smooth and fluffy.  

Add more confectioners’ sugar for a thicker frosting if desired.

Nutella Cookies

So I received a little promotion at work and it’s my last week in my current department. So we (I) am celebrating this week. I ended up going to happy hour this evening after work and decided to indulge in much deserved beer and happy hour food which included fried pickles. I love them! Afterward, I get home to my empty apartment (the other half is at work) and decided I want to bake something! So what is super easy, fast, with the fewest ingredients so I can get my tipsy sweet fix? Oh yeah, those nutella cookies I read about on Lemon Drop! Two ingredients and I don’t have to operate heavy machinery, perfect!! 

As I write this, they are in the oven and they smell A-MAZING! So chocolaty! Now they spread quite a bit so make sure and space them about 2” apart. 

OMG! (I don’t even say OMG and I’m saying OMG) How in the world can two ingredients taste so good!? This one is too easy for you not to try! 

About 15 minutes later I’m eating these incredibly chocolaty, chewy, fudgy cookies. They are so good warm right out of the oven. Awesome! Thank you Linda for posting this recipe! 

Nutella Cookies (Even easy when you’re tipsy)

Ingredients

1 cup Nutella
1 egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper

Whisk together Nutella and egg until fully combined

With a cookie scoop or teaspoon, drop small dollops of batter onto prepared cookie sheets leaving 2 inches space between each one

Bake 8-10 minutes. I baked mine for 10 min because I liked a crispier cookie.

Let cool on rack 5 minutes then transfer cookies to cooling rack.

Found this one on Lemon Drop.

Snickerdoodle Muffins

Oh boy, are these addicting! Honestly, I have never had a Snickerdoodle cookie before but if they are anything like these, count me in. They smell heavenly while baking, and fill the house with a warm comforting aroma. These little beauties come out of the oven very moist, (which is great for a muffin, because no frosting is involved) and they are perfectly sweet. Can you believe the other half wouldn't even try one? He’s on his diet/working out routine again. It’s probably better anyway, more for me. Although, I did have three the night I baked them so I decided to get out of the house and go to the gym before I ate number four. I wonder if those 40 minutes on the elliptical actually burned them off. I took the rest to work with me today and received the same reaction. I think my boss had at least three as well, every time I went into the break room I caught him sneaking another bite, made me feel better. :) You will have no problem making any friends if you make these babies. It’s pure unadulterated cinnamony sugar goodness. 

Cake – Part Deux

Happy Tuesday Ya’ll! (I say “ya’ll” because I live in Texas and say it all the time anyway, and also because once you see how much butter is in the following recipe you will think I’m Paula Dean.) Well I did another cake this weekend, a baby shower cake. It wasn't for anyone I know so of course I had to do a tester cupcake to try it out (quality control, you know). I made a butter cake with strawberry filling and vanilla buttercream. I always make a double batch of the frosting, just in case. You never know when you might need a little extra, or are tempted to eat a spoonful. Is eating a peanut butter and buttercream sandwich a bad thing? The butter cake turned out great, really moist, and the strawberry filling complimented it well. The filling technique will work great for any type of fruit filling, not just strawberry. The other half actually ate the left over strawberry filling with all the cake scraps from leveling mixed in, like cereal with a bowl and spoon. I’m assuming his muffled “mmm hmmm” is his stamp of approval. 

Summer Berry Cobbler

Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July. I had a great holiday weekend, but it just wasn’t the same without fireworks. Here in Texas all fireworks were banned due to the fire danger. So we had to settle for great food. Hopefully this Summer Berry Cobbler will provide fireworks…in your mouth. :) I ended up taking this beautiful cobbler full of fresh berries made with blueberry scone dough along with homemade vanilla bean ice cream, and refreshing white sangria to our gathering. This cobbler would fit in great with a summer BBQ or just a relaxing meal at home. Berries are everywhere right now, and you can find a variety at your local farmer’s market, so throw in what you like or any kind of seasonal berry and enjoy. 

Cake-a-palooza

Well I’ve been baking a lot lately alright, but I haven’t really been experimenting much (unless design counts).  The last couple of weekends I’ve been cranking out cakes, for a birthday, Father’s Day, and a baby shower.

This is the baby shower cake, the bottom tier was vanilla cake with cheesecake filling and vanilla buttercream, and the top tier was a chocolate cake (so good) with a cheesecake filling and vanilla buttercream. Both were covered with fondant and decorations and bow are fondant as well. I wanted to post the recipe for the chocolate cake for you guys because it is the best I have ever found. It is so moist and rich try it and you will love it!

I really love playing with fondant and seeing what I can do with it. I also love eating cake so this is such a perfect hobby. Lately I’ve been working on flowers, roses, carnations, calla lilies, and daisies. And apparently zebra prints too.

I found this recipe on Cake Central, a place I frequent often for inspiration for cake design. I can’t tell you enough how glad I am I found this recipe. It will be my go to chocolate cake recipe. 

Orange and Raspberry Mini Cupcakes

This recipe is inspired by an orange and raspberry cake that Giada De Laurentiis does. She uses a cake mix which would be a great shortcut if you need a quick cake, but I can’t help feel like I’m cheating. Box cake mixes have come a long way though, the complaint used to be a slight fake taste which I believe is caused by the preservatives in the mix, but now days it’s barely noticeable. But me personally, I would like to say it’s from scratch. So I used the same flavor combo, but totally changed the recipe. 

So what do you guys think, box mixes vs. from scratch?? 

These little guys pack a sharp citrus flavor which is rounded out nicely by the raspberry filling and frosting. I chose to do mini cupcakes because they are so easy to just grab and pop in your mouth, but if you need a sit down dessert feel free to make it in regular cupcake or cake form. These are light and fresh and fit in well at a summer BBQ.