Day 37 – Chocolate Coconut Rum Cupcakes

First, I gotta wish Nicole a happy birthday (a day late…). Hope it was amazing!! And, I hope you celebrated with at least 1 cupcake…maybe more.

Now. TGIF!!  This Friday, I’m getting the party started early.  Trust me, there are an awful lot of alcoholic cupcakes out there.  (And, I fully intend to give at least a few of them a try.)  Like these Chocolate Coconut Rum Cupcakes (recipe below from The Law Student’s Wife).

    

These cakes are extremely dense.  Almost brownie-like.  Almost a little chalky.  The mini is so dense that I couldn’t really taste anything.  The full-size is better.  Dark chocolate tasting – similar to a thick, dark brownie, with just a hint of coconut at the end.

The frosting is creamy, but it’s also thin and not very stable.  Definitely not a “piping” kinda frosting.  It tastes like a sweet, cream cheese frosting with just a hint of coconut.  But, seriously, NOT powerful on the alcohol taste!

    

The overall cupcake is better together than separate.  The frosting lightens up the darkness of the cake a lot.  In fact, this is one cupcake that I believe should be heavy on the frosting — load it on — you need it to cut the thickness of the cupcake!  It has a good balance, neither part overpowers the other.  And, even together, just a hint of coconut.  (My hubby didn’t even realize they were coconut until I told him.)

Scoring Sheet:

– Cupcake Taste: 3

– Frosting Taste: 4

– Overall Taste: 4.5

– Appearance: 3

– Ease of Making: 3.5

– TOTAL: 18

RECIPE

Chocolate Coconut Rum Cupcakes (recipe from The Law Student’s Wife)

Ingredients

CAKE

• 3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 c. sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 c. + 1 tsp. coconut rum
• 1/2 c. sour cream

FROSTING

• 4 oz. (1/2 block) cream cheese (regular or light)
• 1/4 c. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 c. + 3T powdered sugar
• 1 T. heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 T. coconut rum
• 1/4 c. shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
• 1/2 c. shredded coconut for additional topping (optional)

For directions visit The Law Student’s Wife

*Tomorrow: Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Filling, Whipped Chocolate Ganache & Crushed Pretzels*