German Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakes with a creamy coconut pecan frosting, also known as German Chocolate Cupcakes, are the perfect Spring dessert that has chocolate. Do not sleep on this creamy coconut pecan frosting for cupcakes.

Move over carrots, we don’t need you for every single Spring dessert, you know! I mean, we love carrot cake cupcakes, but we also love chocolate, don’t we?

If you’re looking for a great Spring dessert that also contains chocolate, look no further than German chocolate cupcakes.

While we associate carrots with Springtime desserts, we also think of coconut! We have plenty of coconut in these German Chocolate Cupcakes.

This is the part where I get slightly annoying and remind you that I’m Texan. And as such, I must say that this cake is not German, it’s Texan. It was simply created by a Texan lady who was using a type of chocolate made by the current Baker’s Chocolate company called German chocolate. The German Chocolate product was slightly sweeter than other baking chocolate at the time.

How to Make German Chocolate Cupcakes

I made us a small batch of chocolate cupcakes; these are my go-to chocolate cupcakes that just so happen to be egg-free, so if you have egg allergies, you’re in luck! Instead of eggs, I rely on the reactions between baking soda and vinegar to provide the lift and fluff in these chocolate cupcakes. Here are all of my egg free recipes.

The frosting on these German Chocolate Cupcakes is made with evaporated milk, an egg yolk, sugar, butter, coconut and chopped pecans. It’s creamy and perfect for piling on cupcakes! Be sure to let it chill completely, or it will slide off the cupcakes.

I’ve also doubled this frosting recipe and stuck it between my mini chocolate cake recipe that I first sliced in half. I put a version of that cake in my cookbook Dessert for Two if you need more specifics!

I get asked a lot if you can double my recipes, and the truth is, I only test my recipes the way you see written here. However, there are lots of people who double my recipes frequently (including my Mom), and they report back on their success. This German chocolate cupcake recipe is reportedly easy to double, which would yield 8 cupcakes for you.

The Ingredients

• Milk. I always recommend whole milk for baking.
• White Vinegar. We’re using vinegar to make the milk similar to buttermilk. If you happen to have extra buttermilk laying around, simply use 1/3 cup of buttermilk in this recipe and omit the vinegar.
• Flour.
• Cocoa Powder.
• Baking Soda.
• Baking Powder.
• Oil. Flavor-less neutral oil, like vegetable oil, canola oil, grapeseed oil, or avocado oil.
• Vanilla Extract.
• Brown Sugar.
• Granulated Sugar.
• Evaporated Milk. The smallest 5-ounce can of evaporated milk is what we need, not to be confused with sweetened condensed milk.
• Egg Yolk. We need a single egg yolk to bind the frosting; recipes to use leftover egg whites here.
• Butter. Always use unsalted butter for baking.
• Pecans. A classic ingredient in German chocolate cupcakes, but you may omit.
• Coconut. Sweetened, shredded coconut flakes. Just a 1/2 cup–store the rest in the freezer for my small coconut cake recipe. Or, my all coconut cupcakes, no chocolate.

The Directions

1. Gather all ingredients, and preheat the oven to 350. Place 4 cupcake liners in a muffin pan. Yes, you can double this recipe to make 8.

2. Combine the milk and vinegar together, and set aside. If you want to skip this step and use buttermilk, you can. Just omit the vinegar.

3. Sift together the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, vanilla, and brown sugar.

5. Combine the oil and brown sugar mixture with the sift dry ingredients, and add the milk and vinegar mixture. Stir everything together until smooth.

6. Divide the mixture evenly into the 4 awaiting cupcake liners. Bake for 15-18 minutes, testing with a toothpick to ensure they’re done before removing from the oven. Let the cupcakes cool completely while you make the icing.

7. To make the coconut pecan frosting for German chocolate cupcakes, grab a small saucepan. Add the evaporated milk, sugar, egg yolk and butter.

8. Turn the heat to medium low and cook while stirring until mixture starts to simmer around the edges of the pan. Lower the heat slightly, then continue to cook while stirring another 1 minute. It will thicken slightly. Then, add the pecans and coconut flakes.

9. You must refrigerate this frosting until very well chilled and stiff before using. It will look like this:

10. Frost these German chocolate cupcakes right before you plan to serve them.

Please make these German chocolate cupcakes and make sure the world doesn’t forget about this delicious chocolate cake with creamy, nutty coconut frosting!

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