Every year, for his birthday, my dad requests German Chocolate Cake to be made for his big day. Normally this cake is a little time consuming (three layers, etc.) but because we were celebrating his birthday at the same time as a Mother's Day tea, I thought I'd make it fun by baking up a little cupcake version!
I followed along with the ol' reliable Baker's Chocolate version of German Chocolate Cake and Coconut-Pecan Frosting (see here for both recipes) and ended up with almost two dozen delicious cupcakes.
The ingredients alone suggest the richness of this delicious cake.
I absolutely love these muffin cup papers from Fancy Flours and think their pretty design are perfect for this cake. I love that they are in the Panettone pattern and made of the same grease-proof paper so they do not require spraying.
Heat your chocolate with your butter until almost melted. Remove from heat and stir until completely melted.
This recipe calls for buttermilk and for that, I am so thankful for this great powdered buttermilk from Saco. (I mean, come on - do you have buttermilk on hand right now? ha.) I keep it protected in the refrigerator. When using it in baking, you add the appropriate amount of powder that is called for right with the other dry ingredients and then add the amount of water called for later. You can get this 12 oz. canister in most supermarkets now.
My handy scoop is just perfect...
...for consistenly even-sized cupcakes with little mess!
Evaporated milk gets added for deliciousness (not to be confused with sweetened condensed milk!)
Here's a nice trick - next time you're scraping a vanilla bean for a recipe, save the bean in your sugar bowl to keep your sugar deliciously vanilla-y (thanks, sissies for the great tip! I think I'll be doing this forever!) Such a yummy vanilla scent will await you every time you go for your sugar now.
Cook your mixture until it reaches a think custard consistency (it will thicken as it cools and you add all the other good stuff to it.)
I like to refrigerate the frosting for a while (~1 hr.+) once you finish making it. For cupcakes, it helps to have this cooler, thicker consistency for spreading.
Smooth a nice little mound of frosting onto your cupcake.
I added some chocolate jimmy sprinkles for added texture/color/fun. If you really want the good stuff, that is, real chocolate, check out these Guittard chocolate sprinkles from KA Flour.
Perfect for a birthday tea!
For giving away cupcakes as a gift, I love cupcake boxes. These Wilton cupcake boxes hold 1/2 dozen regular sized cupcakes, or eight minis, and are, of course, wonderfully reusable.
A nice gift (or stick 'em in the freezer for a present to yourself for later, ha!) :P
No comments:
Post a Comment