Samoa Cupcakes and the Cupcake Exchange

After seeing Sena's maple cupcakes at Leslie's going away party but not tasting any, I devised a clever plan to be able to try some of her cupcakes: a cupcake exchange! I sent out an e-mail to several other baker friends, and we ended up with 6 different batches of cupcakes. Good thing I invited some friends to help eat, too, because there's only so many cupcakes a girl can eat, even if they're as delicious as the ones that were brought.

Sena brought a sundae cupcake that was originally going to be Neapolitan with chocolate and strawberry layers, but then her fiancee suggested adding whipped cream, sprinkles, and a cherry on top!

Will brought a root beer banana cupcake with strawberry frosting. He substituted root beer for the water, and it came out super light and fluffy.

Judy brought coffee and walnut cupcakes with a brown sugar streusel on top.

Daphne brought lemon curd cupcakes, which she carved out by hand.

Lastly, Ruth brought meyer lemon meringue cupcakes. Look at the awesome piping!

I decided to make Samoa cupcakes, inspired by my favorite Girl Scout cookies. I found this recipe by chockylit, which looks amazing, but I was a little too lazy to make the cupcakes and caramel sauce from scratch so I improvised by using yellow butter cake mix and bought caramels. The original recipe called for cutting into the cupcakes once they were baked and cooled and filling each one with caramel sauce. I thought I'd try something a little different; I filled each cupcake liner a little more than halfway with the batter, and then topped each one with a caramel. My hope was that the batter would rise up around the caramel to enclose it and that the caramel itself was melt a bit in the oven while baking.

Samoa Cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:
1 box yellow butter cake mix
1 cup water
3 eggs
1/3 cup butter, softened
24 caramels

For the chocolate ganache:
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the toasted coconut topping:
4 cups shredded, sweet coconut
2 eggs
10 ounces evaporated milk
11/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

Prepare the cupcake batter according to the box mix directions. Fill each cupcake liner a little more than halfway with the batter and top with a caramel. Bake according to the directions on the box. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

To make chocolate ganache, stir cream and chocolate chips on a double boiler (or use a metal bowl on top of a saucepan of boiling water) until melted. Add vanilla and stir to mix. Let cool to room temperature.

To make the toasted coconut topping, start by spreading the coconut onto a sheet pan. Toast in a 350°F oven, stirring frequently to prevent burning, until the coconut is an even brown color, about 10 minutes. Crack the eggs into a small saucepan and beat lightly to break up. Add milk, sugar, and butter. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until thick, bubbly, and golden, about 15 minutes. Press mixture through a metal sieve and into a bowl to remove any lumps. Add 3 cups of the coconut, reserving the remainder for assembly, stir to combine. Let the mixture cool.

To assemble, smooth on a light coating of chocolate ganache. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes to harden the ganache.

Once hardened, spoon on the coconut topping and spread evenly. Top with some more plain toasted coconut.

Drizzle the top with lines of ganache. You may have to warm the ganache over a water bath to get it to drizzling consistency.

Unfortunately, the caramel sunk to the bottom of the cupcakes and hardened instead of sitting in the middle and softening. I had to warn everyone to bite carefully into the cupcake, especially if they had any fillings or crowns.

Otherwise, I was pretty satisfied with the way it turned out. One of the guests commented that it smelled just like a Samoa cookie (this was before we started eating), and I thought the coconut topping tasted exactly like the coconut topping on a Samoa. The original recipe was for 12 cupcakes, so I thought I would need to double the recipe for the chocolate ganache and coconut topping, but it turned out making even the single batch for 12 was more than enough for all 24 cupcakes. I'll probably have to make coconut lime cupcakes and Samoa bars soon to use up the leftovers. Good thing Maundy Thursday and Ruth's baby shower are coming up!