You need this cake in your life, and you need it right now! Bright and early in the week, I promise that you won’t regret it!
Here is my story for the week, my sweet baking friends—I got in this wildly unmotivated mood the past handful of days. I was feeling all sorts of exhaustion, from working to baking to wedding planning, when I finally had a second to sit down, I didn’t want to get up for maybe a month or two. It felt crazy, and even more out of this world saying it out loud!
Okay. Out loud aka typing…
We all have those moments, right? When you decide for a few minutes that you don’t know what you’re doing with your life, that maybe you should be going down a different path, that maybe eating a bowl of cookie dough isn’t the right answer but you’re okay with being wrong…right?!
Say yes! Anyone!
Well that was little Miss Katie these past days. I have started planning my training schedule for some upcoming races, and then I realized that there is 2 million wedding things to get done, and then it was like oh my gosh we are moving in a few months, but shoot, I need to focus on the wedding…and clearly I’m veering off course. So, as you can see, my mind has been everywhere, my urge for baking was more like another task—what?! You live for sugar, Katie—and I couldn’t seem to focus on one thing at a time.
In comes my future husband, aka the man with all of the answers, aka the reason for this amazing recipe, aka why I am a bit calmer than I was 2 days ago!
He tells my stubborn self to take a break, forget about everything for a while and come back to it—so we go to Target, because DUH, and then after we try on wedding bands…instantly more relaxed.
And I am back, refreshed and ready to get elbow deep in some dark chocolate, almonds and coconut—it’s just as incredible as it sounds.
So here we have it, the cake that seemed to save my life this weekend all because of the man who surely gives me life! Insanely rich chocolate cake that is stuffed with even more bittersweet chocolate chunks, almonds and coconut…plus coconut buttercream, it’s everything you will need to make this week magnificent, and more!
Whether you are feeling like Slumpy Katie from Sunday or World Conquering Katie from Tuesday, this cake will give you the power to do all of the things—which may be a laundry list or just a little self love!
cake ingredients
Butter—2 oz, or 4 TBL
Sugar—2 oz, or ¼ C
Brown Sugar—1 oz, or 2 ½ TBL
Egg—1
Milk—1.5 oz, or 3 TBL
Vanilla—½ tsp
Corn Syrup—0.5 oz, or 1 TBL
Flour—2 oz, or ¼ C + 1 TBL
Cocoa Powder—0.75 oz, or 2 ½ TBL
Baking Powder—½ tsp
Baking Soda—¼ tsp
Salt—½ tsp
Shredded Coconut—0.5 oz, or ¼ C
Bittersweet Chocolate, chopped—2 oz, or ½ C
process
Preheat your oven to 350˚ F.
In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and sugars.
In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Combine the milk, egg, vanilla and corn syrup in another cup.
Once the butter is smooth, alternate between the wet and dry, slowly adding it into the mixer.
Make sure to always scrape down the sides of your bowl!
Once all of the ingredients are in the bowl, fold in the coconut and chopped chocolate.
Fill your cupcake tin with liners and put enough cake batter in each to fill them up about ½ way.
Bake in your preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until the top springs back slightly when touched.
Allow to cool completely before frosting!
*Note—this is a small batch of cupcakes, only makes 6, so this way I won’t eat them all myself! It is very simple to double or triple the batch for any type of party, gathering, etc.*
buttercream ingredients
Butter—6.5 oz, or 13 TBL
Confectioner’s Sugar—12 oz, or 3 C
Milk—2 oz, or 4 TBL
Almond Extract—2 tsp
Shredded Coconut—0.5 oz, or ¼ C
process
In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream the butter until smooth.
Sift the confectioner’s sugar and slowly add it to the creamed butter.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and then stream in the milk and almond extract.
Whip on high until smooth.
Add in the coconut.
I used a medium-sized star tip to pipe onto these cupcakes, but you may use either a spatula or a flat tip—whatever you think looks the best! Sprinkle on more coconut and chopped chocolate for garnish.
Bon Appétit!