German Chocolate Cupcakes

Hello Beautiful!  I absolutely LOVE German chocolate anything!  It is the perfect combination... pecans, coconut and chocolate!  I saw a picture of something like this on pinterest but wanted to use all of my favorite components.  I LOVED how they turned out and will be skipping lunch so that I can justify having these multiple times today, is that wrong?  Oh well, who cares!  These are to good to pass up!

German Chocolate Cupcakes

(24 cupcakes)

Cake:

My favorite recipe, I already posted it here! I made it with a chocolate cake mix and chocolate pudding. Cool completely before frosting.

Coconut-Pecan Frosting:

(Recipe from my BFF Abby!  Here is the link)

1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk

1 cup sugar

3 egg yolks

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

1 t vanilla

1 1/3 cups shredded, sweetened coconut

1 cup chopped pecans

In a medium sauce pan, combine evaporated milk, sugar, butter, egg yolks and vanilla.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens, but do NOT boil.  It should coat the back of the spoon.  Stir in the coconut and pecans.  Let the frosting cool for 20-30 minutes stirring occasionally.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

4 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled

2 heaping T cocoa powder

1 t vanilla

a pinch of salt

3-4 T of milk, or more until desired constancy

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave or on the stove top over low heat until smooth.  Beat together all the ingredients until the frosting is smooth and whipped.  Start with the least amount of milk and add more as needed to desired constancy.

Assembly:

Using a pastry bag and frosting tip, pipe on a ring of chocolate buttercream frosting around the top of each cooled cupcake.  Fill the middle of the ring with a spoonful or two of the coconut-pecan frosting.  Store in a cool place to let the frosting set up a little.