Chocolate Italian Cream Cupcakes

Last Christmas, I received a card from a friend with a cake on the front.
The cake looked ABSOLUTELY amazing and I knew I wanted to try it.
Lucky for me - inside the card was the recipe for the cake!

My birthday is about a month after Christmas
and I had plans to celebrate with some friends and family.
When my aunt asked me what kind of cake I wanted, I knew immediately!

Not only did the cake look amazing,
but it tasted even better than I'd imagined!
I made a mental note to make the recipe myself soon.

"Soon" was actually quite a few months later,
but I finally did make the recipe recently!
And instead of a whole cake... made cupcakes!!!

Wow, wow, wow!!!
They were just as amazing as I remembered,
so now let me show you how they're made!

The Goods:

Butter

Canola Oil

Sugar

Eggs

Flour

Cocoa Powder

Baking Soad

Milk

Vinegar

Vanilla Extract

Coconut Extract

Pecans

Flaked Coconut

Cream Cheese

Powdered Sugar

Cinnamon

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and oil.

Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

Add 2 egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition.

Combine the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda in another bowl.

Add half of the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and mix.

Next add the homemade buttermilk and mix.

Then add the remaining flour mixture and mix.

Now add the vanilla and coconut extracts and mix.

Lastly, add the flaked coconut and chopped pecans and mix again. 

Set the batter aside.

In another mixing bowl, add six egg whites.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

This site is very helpful if you're unsure exactly what stiff peaks are!

Add the egg whites to the batter bowl and fold in carefully.

Scoop the batter (I used an ice cream scoop) into lined muffin pans.

You can use whatever size pan you'd like,

just make sure to keep an eye on your baking time!

I chose to make mine BIG and used jumbo muffin pans!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Pop those babies in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes.

You'll know they're done with you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean!

Cool the cupcakes in the pan for a few minutes.

Remove from pan and finish cooling on a wire rack.

While they're cooling, it's time to make the frosting.

And if I'm being honest - this is where I ran into a snag...

Keep reading and you'll see what happened!

Bring butter and cream cheese to room temperature...

And then beat together until smooth.

Mix together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder and cinnamon.

Add half of the mixture to the beaten butter and cream cheese.

Mix well and then gradually add remaining half.

Finally blend in the vanilla.

Where was the snag that I ran into you ask???

I've made different types of homemade frosting many times.

But this frosting turned out NOTHING like any frosting I'd made before.

I was confused and didn't really know where I'd messed up.

Then a light bulb went off - I should have been using my whisk beater!!!!

The chocolate cream cheese frosting tasted amazing,

but the consistency just wasn't right.

When I tried to pipe it on the cupcakes, it wasn't holding it's "shape".

So what'd I do?

I did what any logical person with zero extra time would do!

I bought some pre-made cream cheese frosting, that's what!

After piping both kinds of frosting,

 I added a little toasted coconut to the top of each one.

Chocolate Italian Cream Cupcakes Recipe

For the Cupcakes:

1/2 Cup Butter

1/4 Cup Canola Oil

2 Cups Sugar

2 Large Eggs, Separated

2 Cups Flour

1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1 Cup Homemade Buttermilk*

1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

1 Teaspoon Coconut Extract

1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans

4 Egg Whites

For the Frosting:

1 (8 ounce) Package Cream Cheese

3 Tablespoons Butter

1 (16 ounce) Box Powdered Sugar

1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder

1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and oil.
3. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
4. Add 2 egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition.
5. Combine the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda in another bowl.
6. Add half of the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and mix.
7. Add the homemade buttermilk and mix.
8. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix.
9. Add the vanilla and coconut extracts and mix.
10. Add the flaked coconut and chopped pecans and mix again. Set batter mixture aside.
11. In another mixing bowl, add six egg whites and beat until stiff peaks form.
12. Add the egg whites to the batter bowl and fold in carefully.
13. Scoop the batter into lined muffin pans and bake for about 20 minutes.
14. Insert a toothpick to make sure they're done. A clean toothpick means they're ready!
15. Cool the cupcakes in the pan for a few minutes, then remove from pan and finish cooling on wire rack.
16. In another mixing bowl, bring butter and cream cheese to room temperature, then beat until smooth.
17. In a smaller bowl, mix together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder and cinnamon.
18. Add half of the above mixture to the beaten butter and cream cheese and mix well.gradually 
19. Add the remaining half and beat until light.
20. Lastly, blend in the vanilla.
21. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes and top with toasted coconut for garnish.

*Homemade Buttermilk is a mixture of Milk and Vinegar. Find more info here!