Cathy’s Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes w/Honey Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

When Cathy began sharing her dream with the blogging community she was a single (divorced) mom of a young son and daughter, working at medical billing in an OBGYN Department and dating her boyfriend referred to as *the Editor*  She was baking cupcakes and announcing that she had a five year plan to open a cupcake and coffee shop.  Within a month of launching her blog I Dream of Cupcakes she found herself delivering her first order of her Texas sized cupcakes. Within three months she found herself getting engaged in Costa Rica and after only nine months she officially announced to her readers that her online cupcake business VCVC Cupcakes was up, running and taking orders. VCVC Cupcakes offers clients their choice of either regular sized cupcakes or Texas sized and has several delicious flavours to choose from.  All cupcakes will be topped off with a generous portion of buttercream frosting or custom ordered fondant frosting.  A peek at Cathy’s gallery is guaranteed to start a craving but you may also find yourself having a tough time trying to decide what your favourite might be.  There is no doubt that whenever this talented baking entrepreneur puts her mind to accomplishing something, she is bound to get it done and done with delicious results.  I’m very happy that Cathy is here today, sharing her story and recipe with us.  You can follow Cathy on Twitter @VCVCCupcakes

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In my life, there is one rule to cupcakes taught to me by my Grandmother. There should always be as much cake as there is frosting. She is the person who showed me how to do all my best baking. When choosing recipes there is a million I had to pull from and they all came from her.

This year I got the call that no one wants. Gram had cancer. At her age there was not a lot they could do and chemo was not really an option. Since it was skin cancer, they could try a chemo cream that would burn through her skin and ultimately leave her with a scar on her cheek and her temple. But it would save her life. I lost my father to cancer when I was 14. It started as skin cancer, then it spread to his lungs, pancreas, and his brain. In under a year he was gone. I could not let this happen to one of the most influential women in my life. I just would not do. She raised me while my Mom worked. She taught me how to cook and do laundry and how to clean. She taught me how to bake. Baking is what comforts me and my family in times of distress. Lucky for me, the cream worked and I still have more time with my Gram. More time to bake, and hear stories and learn how to knit. More time to just be.

So today I give you the warm gooey goodness of Chocolate Coconut cupcakes with Honey Coconut cream cheese Frosting!

You will need:

2 Cups of Self Rising Flour

1 tsp baking Soda

2 Sticks of butter (salted or unsalted) softened

1 Cup of sugar

1 Cup of tight packed Brown Sugar

4 Eggs at room temp (yup it makes a difference)

6 oz of unsweetened chocolate melted in a double boiler but do not use it HOT… just warm

1 cup of coconut juice

1 tsp of vanilla bean paste

1 tsp coconut extract and some shredded coconut

Frosting-

Honey butter

Powdered sugar coconut extract

Cream cheese coconut juice

Now that you have all of this “Stuff” what do you do with it? Surprisingly it is easier than it seems. First… Gram’s #1 rule- WASH YOUR HANDS WITH WARM WATER!!!!

Put the chocolate in the double boiler and put it on medium heat. It will take about 20 min to melt. Do NOT try to turn the heat up to rush it. That will only burn your chocolate making it very bitter. While that is going on, line 24 muffin/cupcake tins with cupcake wrappers. My Gram hated grease stains and we lived in what everyone called “the museum of Don’t Touch That”. So I always use greaseless papers like those from Sutton Gourmet.

Next sift together the flour and baking soda in a small bowl or in your Pyrex measuring cup. If you half-ass it like me sometimes I just whisk them together… same effect.

In your large electric mixing bowl get your butter nice and smooth on medium speed.

Then add your white and brown sugars… and fluff away on medium speed!!! Around this time I preheat the oven to 350.

By this time your chocolate should be melted and nice and smooth. When that happens, take it off the stove right away. Burning = bitter remember? And let it cool to warm and not HOT.

Add each egg 1 at a time and mix mix mix… Making sure you scrape the bowl every time you add one.

Now your chocolate should be nice and cool so go ahead and add that in as well as your vanilla bean paste and coconut extract. Mix on low/medium speed until well mixed or “incorporated”.

Now you get to add your flour and coconut juice. Most recipes say do it in 3 parts. I don’t usually have time for that. I dump in the flour compound. Put my trusty mixer on slow or you will have a blizzard and pour my liquid in slowly as that is going. It works just as well. Do it whichever way you feel comfortable with.

Then take a handful of coconut and toss that in too and give it a quick spin on the mixer… TADAA!!!

I use an old school ice cream scoop to fill my cupcake cups and it is sooo easy!

Pop them in the oven for 16 min. It might take longer, but always check after 16 min. You can add more time on, but you can never take it off. Take them out when the top springs back to the touch.

Now for my FAVORITE part! FROSTING! This has to be my all-time favorite frosting ever!

Take ½ brick and cream cheese and ½ stick of butter and cream it in a mixer.

Add confectioners/powdered sugar. I don’t measure.. I’m sorry so I don’t know how much.. I will GUESS about 3-4 cups.

Add some honey. Local is the best. It takes that sour aftertaste out of the cream cheese.

Add some Coconut extract to taste.

Pour in just a tiny bit of coconut juice. Maybe about 2 TBS worth again I’m sorry I just don’t measure. I do this by heart and taste.

MIX… slow at first and then faster to avoid a snowstorm. If it is too thick add more coconut juice, if it is too thin add more sugar.

Decorate as you wish!

We will be making a donation to the American Cancer Society. And our cupcakes will be donated to the staff of a local hospital who cares for cancer patients. But when my dad was sick, I realized they not only cared for the patients, they also cared for the families. When some of the people around me were afraid to deal with a moody teenager who was losing a parent and I was standing in a hallway bewildered and confused as to why my own father had no idea who I was, it was a nurse who talked to me and took time from her day. I can’t remember her face or even her name. But I will never forget what she said to me and the lessons I took away from it. I am sure I was not the first person she has done that for and I am sure I was not the last. I am also sure there are many more out there like her. Day in and day out they care for the sick and dying, they see triumph and they see death, families brought together and torn apart and the next day they have the strength to get out of bed and do it all over again. A strength I don’t think I will ever have. So THANK YOU, to all those nurses out there who care not only for our loved ones, but also for us.