{"id":415,"date":"2008-10-03T15:00:37","date_gmt":"2008-10-03T19:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.peterandrewryan.com\/baking\/?p=415"},"modified":"2008-11-05T21:43:19","modified_gmt":"2008-11-06T01:43:19","slug":"almond-cupcakes-with-dark-chocolate-frosting-and-toasted-coconut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peterandrewryan.com\/baking\/2008\/10\/almond-cupcakes-with-dark-chocolate-frosting-and-toasted-coconut\/","title":{"rendered":"almond cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting and toasted coconut"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"almond<\/a><\/p>\n

if you search for “almond joy” or “mounds” cupcakes, you’ll either find recipes that have chocolate cupcakes with coconut frosting and almonds on top, or cupcakes that you hollow out and fill with something else. while they may be delicious, i wanted to focus on an intensely almond cupcake with rich dark chocolate frosting and top it with crispy toasted coconut.<\/p>\n

\"almond<\/a><\/p>\n

you might recall that i’m not a fan of wimpy cupcakes<\/a>, and this one is no exception. these are decadent and indulgent. this recipe makes 24, so you might want to share them with someone you love or else you’ll find yourself indulging more than a few times a day.<\/p>\n

\"almond<\/a><\/p>\n

the beauty of using almond extract is that you can tweak the flavor as you go. after i initially mixed the batter, a taste test told me that they needed more of a kick. quarter teaspoon by quarter teaspoon, i adjusted until i knew the cakes would have the rich taste i was after.<\/p>\n

\"almond<\/a><\/p>\n

i don’t typically make chocolate frosting, but this one really blew me away. i think the difference\u00a0 was using higher quality chocolate than i’m used to. typically it’s simple nestle tollhouse morsels (which are excellent), but this time i went a different route – shaving down ghirardelli baking bars bit by bit. it was a labor of love that resulted in me getting chocolate all over my clothes and apartment, but it paid off in spades.<\/p>\n

\"almond<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

almond cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting and toasted coconut<\/strong>
\n makes 24 cupcakes. these are SO GOOD.<\/p>\n

cupcakes<\/strong>
\n 3\/4 cup butter
\n 1 1\/2 cups sugar
\n 2 eggs
\n 3 tsp almond extract
\n 1\/2 tsp vanilla extract
\n 2 1\/2 tsp baking powder
\n 1\/4 teaspoon salt
\n 2 1\/2 cups flour
\n 1 1\/4 cups milk<\/p>\n

dark chocolate frosting<\/strong>
\n 2 2\/3 cups confectioner\u2019s sugar
\n 6 Tbsp butter
\n 1 1\/2 cups shaved ghirardelli baking chocolate (unsweetened 100% cacao)
\n 1 cup cream
\n 1 tsp vanilla<\/p>\n

1 cup shredded coconut for toasting and topping<\/p>\n

1. make the cupcakes: cream the butter and sugar until smooth. add the eggs, almond and vanilla extract and milk. in a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt, then mix into the wet ingredients.<\/p>\n

2. fill cupcake liners 2\/3 full with batter and bake for about 20 minutes at 375F. remove from the cupcake tray and let cool on a rack completely before frosting.<\/p>\n

3. make the frosting: soften the butter in the microwave for about 40 seconds and mix in the confectioner’s sugar. add the vanilla and cream. shave the chocolate directly into the butter mixture, stirring to combine. you can test as you go and add more chocolate if you’d like.<\/p>\n

4. move the frosting to a heatproof bowl and place over a saucepan with about 2 inches of water in it on medium heat. you want to really get the frosting smooth and creamy without direct heat from the flame, but it should not take long (maybe 5 minutes). you can continue tasting and adding chocolate or a bit more cream. let it cool at room temperature before frosting the cupcakes.<\/p>\n

5. in a non-stick frying pan, heat up shredded coconut on low-medium heat, stirring constantly, until the coconut begins to brown. immediately take it off the heat and continue stirring. top the frosted cupcakes with the toasted coconut.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

if you search for “almond joy” or “mounds” cupcakes, you’ll either find recipes that have chocolate cupcakes with coconut frosting and almonds on top, or cupcakes that you hollow out and fill with something else. while they may be delicious, i wanted to focus on an intensely almond cupcake with rich dark chocolate frosting and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cake"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfcoo-6H","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterandrewryan.com\/baking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterandrewryan.com\/baking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterandrewryan.com\/baking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterandrewryan.com\/baking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterandrewryan.com\/baking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterandrewryan.com\/baking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":645,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterandrewryan.com\/baking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions\/645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterandrewryan.com\/baking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterandrewryan.com\/baking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterandrewryan.com\/baking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}