German chocolate cupcakes

I finally bought Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, a very epic cookbook all about, you guessed it...cupcakes. (I've had my eye on this one for a while.) My coworker's birthday just passed, and she told me German chocolate cake is her favorite, so I decided to christen my cookbook with Martha's recipe for German chocolate cupcakes.


Oh yes, Martha went there.

Basically it's a chocolate cake - a bit lighter than the chocolate cupcake recipe I used from Ina, bu still delicious to lick off of a spoon - and that coconut frosting so common to German chocolate cakes. The frosting is this egg-sugar-butter mixture, cooked and then combined with coconut and pecans that are toasted and chopped by yours truly.

Oh, and did I mention that these cupcakes are double-layered?


You get this effect by baking the cupcakes in the pan directly, rather than in wrappers. This was a little tricky, but it turned out OK.

I should mention that I don't like German chocolate cake (or cupcakes, for that matter). I despise (DESPISE!) coconut, so I just ate one of the cupcakes plain, and it was pretty good. However, my coworkers went wild for the cupcakes with the icing. My coworker's morning was completely pepped up by the cupcakes, which she gladly shared. One of the judges specifically called me to say that they were "exceptional."

Needless to say, I'm excited to try more recipes out of the book. I've got my eye on some chocolate ones, but also some rather odd ones, like peanut butter & jelly cupcakes, and s'mores cupcakes. Oh Martha, you will never take the place of Ina, but I'm glad I finally broke down and bought one of your cookbooks.