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Cupcakes the best way to say ‘auf Wiedersehn’ to a good friend

These German chocolate cupcakes feature a from-scratch chocolate cake, topped with a coconut frosting, ganache and a buttercream chocolate frosting, too. They are decadent, delicious and absolutely beautiful.

Someone told me last week that I don’t really qualify as an amateur baker, since I’ve been writing this column way too long for that, but I still claim the title, especially after taking on a recent huge project.

A dear friend of the newspaper, Debbie Pierce, celebrated her retirement last week, and since we were combining her party with a Press Club event, I volunteered to bring dessert. Her favorite? German chocolate cake. And I found the most decadent German chocolate cupcake recipe I could, which was ambitious enough, since it was made up of four separate components.

But then I decided to quadruple the recipe.

My math skills and my ability to judge just how many ingredients would fit into the bowl of my stand mixer were definitely put to the test on this one, but goodness gracious was the end result worth it.

This comes from the blog “A Monkey on a Cupcake” (how great is that name?). You can find the original post at https://amonkeyonacupcake.com/german-chocolate-cupcakes/. I doubled the vanilla across the board in my version below, and I changed the bake temperature on the cupcakes to get a better rise.

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German Chocolate Cupcakes

These German chocolate cupcakes feature a from-scratch chocolate cake, topped with a coconut frosting, ganache and a buttercream chocolate frosting, too. They are decadent, delicious and absolutely beautiful.
Course Dessert
Keyword baker’s chocolate, buttercream, chocolate, chocolate ganache, cocoa powder, coconut, cupcakes, dark chocolate, decadent dessert, ganache, German chocolate, German frosting, heavy cream, pecans, sour cream, vanilla

Ingredients

Cupcake Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 ounces dark baker’s chocolate I used 55 percent cacao
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
  • 4 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1/3 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup water

Coconut Layer Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup evaporated milk
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
  • 3/4 cup pecan pieces cut small

Frosting Layer Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup butter softened
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla

Ganache Layer Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips I used semisweet
  • 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions

Cupcake Directions

  • Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
  • Prepare about one and one-half cupcake tins by lining them with cupcake liners (I got about 16 cupcakes out of a batch), and set them aside.
  • In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until it is well combined.
  • Melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl, heating 30 seconds at a time and stirring in between. Let it cool enough that you can touch it without burning your finger, and mix it into the butter mixture. Beat in the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time.
  • Beat in the oil, vanilla and sour cream until the mixture is smooth, and then add the flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa powder in batches, mixing in between each addition.
  • Finally, beat in the water until the mixture is smooth.
  • Fill the prepared liners about two-thirds full, and then bake for five minutes at 425. Without opening the oven, drop the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.
  • Remove the cupcakes from the tin and let them come up to room temperature before assembling.

Coconut Layer Directions

  • Add the evaporated milk, egg yolks, brown sugar and butter to a saucepan, and heat it over medium heat. Stir constantly for about 15 minutes until the mixture thickens. It’ll be like a thick syrup consistency.
  • Remove the mixture from the heat and pour it through a mesh strainer into a bowl to remove any chunks of cooked egg.
  • Stir in the vanilla, coconut and pecans, and set it aside to cool.

Frosting Directions

  • Beat all the ingredients together until everything is well combined and light and fluffy. Transfer it into a piping bag with a wide tip (like a star), and set it aside.

Ganache Directions

  • Add the chocolate chips and whipping cream to a microwave-safe bowl and heat, 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

Assembly Directions

  • Add about one to one and one-half tablespoons of the coconut layer to the top of each cupcake, spreading it into a flat, even, thick layer on each.
  • Using a frosting bag, a spoon or a fork, drizzle ganache across the top of each of the cupcakes (use as much as you want, but note that these are very rich, so proceed cautiously).
  • Finally, pipe a swirl of the chocolate frosting on top. If desired, add some more pecan pieces to the top of each cupcake.
  • Store in an airtight container. These can stay at room temperature, but if it’s especially warm, they may start to melt a bit, so you might want to store them in the refrigerator in that case.

These were insanely decadent, and the combination of textures and flavors just took these over the top. I didn’t have to worry about leftovers after the event, even though I made over 60 cupcakes. They all went home with someone.

And my kitchen is mostly recovered from the war zone I created from ingredients splashing everywhere on my countertops, which is a relief.

It cemented for me that I am nowhere near a professional baker, but I’d say this amateur attempt was a pretty darn good one.

This piece first appeared in print May 29, 2025.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Dessert

Amazing cake recipe is raising the ‘barb’

Rhubarb cake is sweet and moist and features the flavors of coconut and cinnamon along with fresh rhubarb.

A couple years ago, my folks moved into a house that had a huge garden of rhubarb in the backyard.

I have to admit, I wasn’t sure if that was an even trade for missing out on the mulberry trees I used to be able to exploit at my childhood home, but I’ve been meaning to figure out what to do with rhubarb since they moved in.

So, a couple weekends ago, my mom helped me chop off a bunch of long stalks, and I brought them home to see what I could do. After letting them sit in my fridge for a bit, I decided to try a cake from my recipe box that I’d never made before, one from my paternal grandma and one I can’t remember the last time I got to have.

And it was awesome.

The recipe I’m sharing this week comes from my grandma, Tillie Miller. I can’t tell you where she got it originally, but it was my grandpa’s favorite, and I think she made it long enough that it became her recipe. I did add a little extra cinnamon and vanilla in my version.

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Rhubarb Cake

Rhubarb cake is sweet and moist and features the flavors of coconut and cinnamon along with fresh rhubarb.
Course Dessert
Keyword cake, cinnamon, coconut, German frosting, moist, rhubarb

Ingredients

Cake Ingredients

  • 1 cup rhubarb diced finely
  • 2 cups sugar divided
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup milk with about 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla

Frosting Ingredients

  • 6 tablespoons butter or margarine
  • 1 cup coconut
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 cup chopped nuts I used walnuts

Instructions

  • Grease and flour a 9-by-13-inch cake pan and set it aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Place the rhubarb in a bowl with 1/2 cup sugar and set it aside while combining the other ingredients. (If you’re worried about how sour your rhubarb is, give it a taste before adding the sugar. Mine was especially tart, so I added a few extra tablespoons of sugar just to be sure.)
  • Beat together the flour, remaining sugar, oil, egg, sour milk, baking soda, cinnamon and vanilla until well-combined. Mix in the rhubarb.
  • Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
  • When the cake is almost done, combine all of the ingredients for the frosting in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring regularly, until the butter is melted and everything is well-combined. Pour the frosting evenly over the cake while it is still warm.
  • Store the cake in an air-tight container.

Despite having a particularly tart crop of rhubarb, this cake was sweet and delicious, with tons of fruit flavor along with coconut and cinnamon. We really enjoyed it, and my dad gave it his stamp of approval, too, so I think I did OK.

I tend to avoid rhubarb a lot of the time, since I’m not a big fan of sour fruits, but I really liked this. It had fantastic flavor.

I guess this means I might need to harvest a few more stalks from my folks’ garden this summer to try some other new recipes. I apparently like rhubarb more than I thought. I’m still really missing that mulberry tree, but a big slice of cake on my plate is helping me get over it.

This piece first appeared in print on June 11, 2020.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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