Coconut Cupcakes Drizzled with Chocolate Sauce

I've been watching cooking competition shows and getting inspired to cook... and bake. I think I'm going to do a series of a few recipes I've tried and found amazing.
In particular, I've been working on perfecting a coconut cake/cupcake recipe from an original one I found on food.com. I'm happy to say, SUCCESS!!





You may notice that my gorgeous cupcake is slightly squarish in shape. That's because I don't have those cupcake paper things, so I improvised and constructed little origami boxes from baking paper to put my cupcakes in.


The recipe is great. I've tried it a couple of times so far, each time adjusting the ingredients to get that perfect texture and sweetness. I'll add the chocolate sauce recipe after that.

Makes about 8 squares, or cupcakes.

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar (I substituted with honey and it was really good)
1/2 stick (4 Tbs) butter (I used half butter and half coconut oil here to bring out a lighter more coconut flavor)
2 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup buttermilk (I didn't have buttermilk, and I used 1 Tbs. of yogurt mixed with milk to substitute, you can also use coconut milk if you have it for additional flavor).
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup shredded coconut
pinch of salt

Directions
1 - Preheat Oven to 350F (190C)
1 - Cream together butter (and coconut oil if using it) and sugar (or honey). Add vanilla and egg yolk and beat till well mixed.
2 - Mix the dry ingredients. Add them to the butter mix, alternating with the butter milk. Beat well.
3 - Add the coconut to the batter and mix with a wooden spoon.
4 - In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. (I put them in my small food processor, and pushed the button till they were done. Much easier and works).
5 - Gently fold the egg white into the batter with a wooden spoon.
6 - Pour into cupcakes, or buttered cake pan, and bake for 25 minutes.



Chocolate Sauce

You can do this in a microwave, but I did it in a double boiler. It would be a great time to start this when the cakes come out of the oven. That way you'll have a slightly hot chocolate sauce to use with still warm cup cakes.

Makes 1 cup of sauce.

Ingredients
1 oz. of 100% baker's chocolate (you can use semi sweet, but then skip the honey and sourcream)
2 1/2 tbs. honey (or sugar)
2 tbs. butter
1/3 cup milk
1 tbs sour cream (Don't sub with yogurt, it'll give it a distinct slightly sour taste that you may not like).

1 - Boil water in a sauce pan. When it boils, turn down the heat, simmer, and place a heat proof bowl on top of the sauce pan.
2 - Add the chocolate, butter, and honey, and let melt and mix. When completely melted turn off the heat.
3 - Add the sour cream and mix well with a whisk or fork. Add the milk gradually. If you prefer your sauce thicker, add less milk. If you prefer it more liquidish, add more. It will be more solid as it cools down, so you can add some of the milk, wait for it to cool down a little. Then add more to reach your perfect consistency.


Finally, take a warm cupcake, slice it horizontally at the middle. Add a tablespoon of chocolate sauce as a filling. Put it back together and place on a plate. With a spoon, drizzle the chocolate sauce on top, and finish by sprinkling shredded coconut.

Enjoy. YUM!!!!


P.S. Habib, if you're really nice, I can make this for you at your place :P The whole thing including baking time took me less than 2 hours to make and eat.