{Recipe}: Samoa Cupcakes

 A few weeks ago I saw these cupcakes on Pinterest and new right away I had to bake them.

The verdict?  While they didn't taste like the girl scout cookie, they actually tasted better.  The mix of coconut in the batter and the caramel icing created a flavor the was purely decadent.  And dangerous.

Samoa Cupcakes

Recipe from The Novice Chef

You'll Need:

For the batter:

2 cups sugar
1 and 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoons coconut extract {I omitted because I searched high and low for this and could not find it in any food store.  Low and behold you can only imagine what I found yesterday at the one store I didn't look.}
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup boiling water

For the Buttercream:

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 pound confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup caramel topping; plus more for drizzling {see below}
1 teaspoon salt

{I usually do a pretty good job at eyeballing my buttercream, but this is the measurements used in the recipe.  Remember the caramel I told you to set aside from the Homemade twix bars?  Works great here!}

For the chocolate drizzle:

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cold water
a pinch of salt
a splash of vanilla extract

Directions:

1)  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  For the batter, combine sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  Add eggs, milk, oil, extracts and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

2)  Stir in water and fold in coconut.

3)  Line about 2 dozen cupcake cups and fill with the batter 2/3 full.  Bake for 22-25 minutes.

4)  For the buttercream, cream the butter in the electric mixer.  Add vanilla, salt, and caramel syrup and combine.  Add the sugar, mixing after each addition.  Taste along the way; the more sugar you add the thicker your icing will be.  If you want you can add more caramel.  

5)  Once the cupcakes have been taken out of the oven and cooled, frost them.  To make the chocolate topping, mix the sugar and cocoa powder in a saucepan until the lumps have dissolved.  Add water and salt and stir over medium heat.  Bring to a boil for a few minutes.  Continue to stir.  Remove from heat, let cool, and add vanilla.  Drizzle over the cupcakes

enjoy! xo