German Chocolate Cupcakes – Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes with the most amazing German Chocolate Coconut Topping!
The last weekend of August wrapped up our busiest birthday month here. As I’ve said before, for our family, August packs in more Birthdays than any other month.
My dad’s birthday on August 31, ends our long month of celebrations!
I know I told him on his Birthday, but since I’m sharing his Birthday Cupcakes today, I just have to shout it again…… ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIDDY! I LOVE YOU!” (Yes, that is suppose to be “Diddy” haha)
I had a rough week with doctor visits and such the week before his birthday but I really wanted to make him an awesome birthday cake since we didn’t really have a ton planned for his birthday. After all, this was his 60th birthday and we total suck and didn’t plan anything!
I was all prepared to make this Chocolate Espresso Layer Cake from Savory Simple for him until he told be that he had a suggestion for his cake. *Insert Sad Face*
He wanted a German Chocolate Cake; he said it was his favorite. So I ditched my plan for the Chocolate Espresso Cake and my brain jumped onto the German Chocolate Cake tracks. (But I WILL be making that Chocolate Espresso Cake soon! )
Growing up, German Chocolate Cake was the only thing I could stand coconut in. I still don’t care for shredded coconut, something about the texture kills me but I did love German Chocolate Cake when I was little.
Oh and PAUSE… did you know that German Chocolate Cake filling has pecans in it? I had no idea! I mean of course you can make it without the pecans, but regular German Chocolate Cake coconut filling has pecans in it.
My dad knew this, my husband knew this… I did not.
So I set out to make this amazing 3 layer German Chocolate Cake for my dad’s birthday. I bought 3 new awesome cake pans because I wanted layers in the cake! I mixed the batter, baked the cakes and then let them cool.
I made the coconut pecan filling and made homemade chocolate icing. This was going to be the best birthday cake ever! I just knew it was going to be great!
I let everything cool and then I started to assemble my cake. The cake Gods HATE ME! The cakes hated me! I finally got them stacked, filling between each layer and started my crumb coat. Half way through icing the thing it started to fall apart. Cracked down the middle the the top layer started falling off.
Tears… Tears I tell you!
I pushed it all back together and shoved it into the freezer and started to panic. Dinner was almost here and I needed a German Chocolate Cake… like NOW.
I re-made the batter and re-made the filling. I grabbed a can of icing from the pantry and dug through my kitchen for cupcake liners.
I raced to bake the cupcakes, let them cool, piped a ring of chocolate fudge icing and filled the top of those cupcakes full of sweet coconut pecan filling!
They were done, literally as I was walking out of the door to head to Lynchburg to celebrate Dad’s birthday! Haha 🙂
Ps….. I think that cake is still in the deep freezer down stairs in the basement…. oops….
German Chocolate Cupcakes
German Chocolate Cupcakes
Ingredients
FOR CUPCAKES:
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup boiling water
FOR FILLING:
- 4 egg yolks
- 12 ounces evaporated milk (should be 1 can)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup butter (1.5 sticks)
- 2 cups of shredded coconut
- 1 cup chopped pecans
ALSO NEED:
- 2 -3 cups chocolate icing (homemade or store bought)
Instructions
FOR CUPCAKES:
Pre-heat the oven to 300F.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and coco powder. (I do this in my stand mixer).
Next add in the eggs, milk and oil. Mix Well. Stir in the vanilla. Carefully mix in the boiling water. The batter with be liquid like!
Pour batter into cupcake liners that have been placed into a cupcake tray.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 300F for 30 minutes or until done.
Let cool.
FOR FILLING:
Whisk egg yolks, milk and vanilla together in a medium sauce pan. Whisk in the sugar and butter and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the mixture is thick.
Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut and the pecans.
Let cool.
I used canned chocolate fudge icing for these cupcakes. But if you want to make your own chocolate icing that will work too.
TO ASSEMBLE:
Pipe a ring of chocolate icing around the top of the cupcakes and then top the cupcake with the coconut pecan filling.
Coconut Pie with Graham Cracker Crust
Kayle (The Cooking Actress) says
SUCH gorgeous cupcakes! Perfect for your dad’s birthday 🙂
Melissa from Hungry Food Love says
These look so decadent. Oh my I want to eat them through the screen. I literally do!
Heather | girlichef.com says
Nice recovery! 😉 These look magnificent – German Chocolate has always been one of my favorite cakes…probably because it’s one we had all the time when I was growing up. I must try these!
Connie | URBAN BAKES says
I always thought of German Chocolate to be a masculine type of cake. Sorry to hear yours didn’t come out so well. It happens. I think your cupcakes look delish!! I would totally scarf those down!
@VeganFreeze says
Just gorgeous and my favorite cake so it must be my favorite cupcake!
valmg says
Way to think on your feet! They look fantastic! I hope you enjoyed the cake anyway. 😉
Colleen (Souffle Bombay) says
I have never had this flavor but boy does it look scrumptious!!
Karissa K. says
Can you believe I’ve never had german chocolate cake? These look amazing though!
littleredkitchen says
I’m sure your cake would have been awesome if it hadn’t fallen apart (I’m no good at cakes either) but these cupcakes look awesome! I love that piped frosting with the filling dolloped on top and I”m sure your dad loved it!
Nik Snacks says
Awww xo calling your dad “Diddy” is SUCH a Southern thing! And your cupcakes are cute! I’m sure everyone loved them.
Kirsten/ComfortablyDomestic says
Excellent save! I’ve so been there, but I doubt that I’ve ever recovered so gracefully as you did with these cupcakes. As an added bonus, you now have a cake in the freezer just waiting to be devoured at your leisure.
Christina Z says
I’m sorely tempted to try German chocolate cake. I’ve never had it before. This recipe looks like a good place to start.
not a happy person says
Worst batter I have ever worked with!!! It did not set up well fell apart so easily! And no I am not an armature baker i bake all the time and I have never run into this bad of a batter maybe skip the hot water because it’s not supposed to be that watery! Not happy with this!!!
Angie | Big Bear's Wife says
Hey! Sorry you didn’t like the cupcake batter. I’ve used this recipes for a few years now and I’ve never had a problem with it. (well not in the cupcake form anyways) I do find that cupcakes work better than cakes with this batter but I’ve had successful cakes with it too. 🙂 And yes, the batter is suppose to be that watery 🙂
Hope you’ll give it another try. 🙂
Ann says
Just made these for my mother in law’s birthday. Her favorite dessert is German chocolate cake. She absolutely loved them. And she even said the coconut part taste just like her mom’s recipe. Thank you for the recipe! It was a huge hit!
Angie | Big Bear's Wife says
I’m so glad you and your mother in law loved them!! You’re so welcome and thank you so much for letting me know that you loved them!!
Shawna Weir Harris says
These turned out amazing!!! Everyone raved about them.
Angie | Big Bear's Wife says
YAY! I’m so glad that you liked theme!
Audrey says
Just wanted to say, that when I first came to your page to check out your cupcakes….. I saw your beautiful face and that smile…. warmed my heart! Happy baking!
Julie Z says
These are in the oven right now 🙂 I’m a little worried about how runny the batter is, but I trust you! I bake a lot, so having a really watery cupcake batter usually sets off alarms in my head haha!
Angie says
I hope they turned out well! Every time I make these cupcakes and cakes with this batter it’s always like water but they always turn out so good! Well I do admit it though that I have best luck with the cupcakes than making the big cakes with the batter.
Nichole says
Hi Angie I’d love to make these for my boyfriends 30th birthday today but I’m having a hard time getting the full recipe as the web page is cutting off the edges of the recipe…?
Angie says
So sorry! Just e-mailed it to you!
rachel schulze says
Hi, I can’t seem to see the whole recipe! Could you email it to me? 🙂 thank you!!
Angie says
Hey! Just sent it to you. 🙂 Sorry, we were in Florida this week and had to evacuate so it took me a little while to get back to everyone.
Angie | Big Bear's Wife says
Rachel,
I tried to e-mail it to you but I got this error when I sent it ” The email account that you tried to reach does not exist.”
Tara says
How thick should the filling be? Do I bring it to a boil for 10 minutes?
Angie says
Hi Tara.
It doesn’t need to be boiling for 10 minutes, just simmering on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the mixture is thick. Thick for this is like a thick filling, like “plopable” haha I’m not sure how to describe it. Like a spoon-able fulling to go on top of the cupcake.
CakenGifts.in Gurgaon says
Great article with beautiful pics this is very rare combination, this is my goodness that I found it on google, brilliant idea you have shared thank you so much.
Shirley says
The actual name from the original recipe is “German’s Chocolate Cake” made with German’s (plural) chocolate rather than cocoa powder.
Angie says
Good to know 🙂
April says
Hi, what are your directions for making this batter into a cake instead of cupcakes? I tried the cupcakes btw and we LOVED them. My son is not much of a cake fan but he made sure to tell me that he really liked them a lot!
Angie says
Hi April!
So glad you loved the cupcakes. To make it in to a cake, make the batter the same way, cook at the same tempature, just pour the batter into 8 or 9 inch cake pan and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. I used this same chocolate cake base recipe to make my husbands Peppermint Patty cake one year (recipe here https://www.bigbearswife.com/inside-out-peppermint-patty-cake/ )
April says
Thank you!
Ali says
I love this recipe & use it all of the time, but I cannot get the tops of my cupcakes to ‘pop’ any suggestions?
Angie says
To get the dome look, try baking them at a lower temp for a little longer maybe add 5 minutes at a time. Normally if I bake my cupcakes at 300F though they get a little bit of a dome.
Jenna says
Is the shredded coconut sweetened or unsweetened??
Angie says
either is fine 🙂