ALMOND JOY CUPCAKES
Cake:
1 box devil's food cake mix - I used Duncan Hines
½ cup canola oil
3 eggs
1¼ cup coconut milk
24 single bars of Almond Joy, Bounty, or Mounds
Coconut frosting:
⅔ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup finely shredded coconut
⅔ cup coconut milk
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or paste
½ teaspoon coconut extract
Chocolate coating:
2 cups good, quality chocolate wafers or chips
1 teaspoon vegetable shortening
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line 2 muffin tins with cupcake liners; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, prepare cake mix according to box, with the exception of changing up the water to coconut milk.
Place a tablespoon of cake batter into each cup and coat the bottom, I used a skewer to evenly coat it.
Place a coconut chocolate bar on top and cover with more batter, filling it until ¾'s full.
Bake for 18-20 minutes. Remove cupcakes from oven and allow to cool for a minute or so. Remove from tins and transfer to a wire rack. Allow to cool completely.
Using a mixer, beat butter until fluffy. Carefully add powdered sugar and coconut milk. Add vanilla and coconut extracts. Mix well. Add coconut and blend until incorporated.
Line cupcakes onto a tray. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes into a mound shape and place an almond on top. Place tray in freezer for 5-10 minutes to help solidify for dipping.
Melt wafers or chips along with shortening in a heatproof dish for about a minute or so. The dish needs needs to be deep enough as well as wide enough to dip cupcakes into. Use care when melting chocolate as you don't want to overheat chocolate. It can and will seize up.
Once chocolate is melted, remove cupcakes from freezer a few at a time and dip until frosting is coated. Once I dipped, the almond's shape from inside didn't show up, so I added one on top of cupcake as well immediately after it was dipped.
Place in refrigerator to allow chocolate to firm up.
Yields: 24 Almond Joy Cupcakes.