MSC: Triple Citrus Cupcakes

Wow, two cupcake posts in one week! The other day I shared my Scooby-Doo Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes, and today I give you these Triple Citrus Cupcakes. They sounded like they would be light, summery, and refreshing! They were chosen by Marthe of Culinairy Delights for the Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club, and I was really looking forward to trying them.



Well, unfortunately, these fell a little bit short of my expectations for them. I know that sometimes Martha's cupcake recipes have a reputation for being a bit dry, or dense, or too muffin-like, and I felt like that was the case with these particular cupcakes. They almost reminded me of cornbread in texture, and although cornbread can be delicious, it doesn't necessarily scream light and fluffy.



They're pretty easy to make, though! That fun picture of my stand mixer you saw earlier was all the beautiful, colorful citrus zest that went in with the butter and sugar. It smelled absolutely amazing! I did think 4 sticks of butter in one cupcake recipe was a tad ridiculous, but I went with it.

After the zest mixes in with the butter/sugar mixture, you add vanilla, then 9 (yes, 9!) eggs. Then the flour and salt goes in, and that's it for the batter. While I was making these, I found it odd that there was no baking soda or baking powder in the recipe. Again, I went with it. I figured Martha knew what she was doing.



The cupcakes were heavy, indeed, but the flavor was very nice. I loved the delicate citrus flavor throughout, and I could envision these being eaten without glaze for breakfast. With the glaze, though, they did become much more dessert-y. It's just a simple powdered sugar/citrus juice glaze, with a bit of zest sprinkled in. My cupcakes seemed to absorb some of the glaze; it didn't sit all nice and thick on top of the cupcake like the one in the picture in the cookbook did.

I have to say, though, that my review of these cupcakes was just my opinion. Andy took these in to work, and they were very well-received there. People really loved them; I even heard they were hiding them from other people in the building! So it just goes to show you, it's all a matter of taste. Do check out what the other Martha bloggers thought of these, over at the MSCC blogroll! You can also find the full recipe here, on Martha's website.

Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes with Fluffy Vanilla Frosting

Well, the Scooby-Doo theme continues! The other day I posted about my Scooby-Doo Dog Tag Sugar Cookies, and now I'm going to tell you about my Scooby-Doo Cupcakes! For my son's 5th birthday party at a local children's bouncey house, I decided to go with cupcakes because they're easy, they're kid-friendly, and it would give me an excuse to once again whip out my trusty Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book!



I knew the birthday boy would want cupcakes that were as plain and simple as could be. Therefore, this was the perfect opportunity to finally try out Martha's Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes with Fluffy Vanilla Frosting. My son's kinda strange, for a 5 year-old. He does not like chocolate cake, only vanilla. He absolutely hates frosting; I had to serve him a plain, "naked" cupcake with no frosting on top. And I wouldn't even dream of offering him ice cream with his cake; he won't even touch the stuff. I thought I'd be safe with the yellow cupcakes, and I could give the vanilla frosting to his party guests, but not to him.



I was lucky enough to find these adorable Scooby-Doo cupcake papers on Ebay, and I originally contemplated frosting each cupcake with two different-colored frostings at once. However, that made me nervous because I've never done something like that before. I decided I didn't want to risk there being a cupcake disaster the morning of the party! So in the end I kept it simple and did half the cupcakes bright orange (Xander's favorite color) and half the cupakes teal. The colors were great, really vivid, and I thought they represented the colors on Scooby and the gang's Mystery Machine quite nicely! I used Wilton gel-paste food colors for the frosting.



The cupcakes were delicious. They were light, tender, and very moist. They were like the quintessential kids' birthday party cupcakes. I can definitely see why so many other people say that these are their go-to yellow cupcakes.

And the frosting was fabulous, too! So often, American buttercream icing can be so cloyingly sweet that you get sick from eating it. That's not the case with this frosting. The technique Martha employs, of alternating between beating it at a very high speed for short bursts, and beating it at a lower speed for longer periods, really made the frosting super fluffy (hence the name). It wasn't a dense, heavy frosting; rather, it was light as air and almost felt, texturally, like whipped cream. I even got compliments about it; one person said they don't normally like frosting, but she liked this frosting. I wonder what she'd think of Swiss Meringue Buttercream...

So these were a tremendous hit, cake, frosting, all of it. The little party favors adorning the cupcakes were a hit, too! I found these little Scooby-Doo rings that I was excited to use. It was so easy; I just nestled them right into the frosting. The kids got to take them home with them. My younger son, the 20 month-old, used his ring as his fork. He kept dipping his ring into the frosting, and then ate the frosting off. I thought it was creative!

There will be even more cupcake fun later on this week. The Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club will be making Triple Citrus Cupcakes!

Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes

from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

makes 36 cupcakes

Ingredients
3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups sugar
5 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Fluffy Vanilla Frosting (recipe follows)
Gel-paste food coloring, optional
Colored sprinkles, optional

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium. Add whole eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add yolks, and beat until thoroughly combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each. Beat in vanilla.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers. (I froze these the week before the party, and what I did worked well. I place them back in the muffin tins after they were cool, then triple-wrapped each muffin tin in saran wrap. I placed all the tins inside a large plastic bag and pushed as much air out of the bag as I could. Then I tied it off and placed the whole bag in the freezer. When it was time to defrost, I took them out, unwrapped everything, and took the cupcakes out of the tins. Then I allowed them to thaw. They were perfect!)

Fluffy Vanilla Frosting
from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
makes 4 cups

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 lb. (4 cups) confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions
1. With an electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.

2. Reduce speed to medium. Add the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed; after every two additions, raise speed to high and beat 10 seconds to aerate frosting, then return to medium. This process should take about 5 minutes. Frosting will be very pale and fluffy.

3. Add vanilla, and beat until frosting is smooth. If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 10 days in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes. (If coloring your frosting, it can either be done right after beating, or after storing in the refrigerator and beating again. Add gel-paste food coloring until you reach the desired shade. Frost and decorate cupcakes as desired.)

CEIMB: Sloppy Joes

This week's wonderful Craving Ellie in My Belly selection was Sloppy Joes. It was chosen by Chaya, of Chaya's Comfy Cook Blog. I've made this meal from Ellie Krieger's The Food You Crave book before, but I never stuck exactly to the recipe. I can't say I followed it to the T this time, either, but I came a little bit closer!

Up until recently, if I ever saw beans contained within an ingredients list, I would just omit them. I'm talking mainly about canned beans here. You know, black beans, white beans, red beans. When I made these Sloppy Joes before, the beans certainly did not make it into the pot. However, if there's anything this group has always succeeded in, it's getting me to try something I normally would not. So I threw my reservations to the wind and made this one beans and all!

As usual, this Ellie recipe was a cinch to make. Brown the meat (I used ground turkey) with onions, then add bell pepper (I used green), jalapeno pepper, and garlic. Then, you add in the rest of the ingredients (except the buns, as Ellie helpfully points out! I thought that was hilarious!) and simmer. For the dreaded beans, I found a can of pinto beans where the beans were in a "zesty" sauce, so I thought that would give my sloppy joes a bit more zip. Therefore, I added a bit less tomato sauce, because I knew there would be extra liquid in with the beans.

I used some sturdy whole-grain ciabatta rolls for the buns, served some mini pierogies on the side, and we were ready to eat! I admit, I did really enjoy this the way I made it this time! The beans added more substance without being completely obvious. I thought the spices and seasonings were great, and the jalapeno I used really mellowed out while cooking; this wasn't really spicy at all. I have a good amount of leftovers, and I'm imagining using up the rest tomorrow in some tortillas! Yum, Sloppy Joe soft tacos!

Thank you, Chaya, for the great pick. Check out how the other members of the group made out with this recipe over at the CEIMB blogroll. The original recipe can be found on Chaya's blog, and also on Food Network's site, here.

Scooby-Doo's Dog Tag Sugar Cookies

Behold, my first attempt at making sugar cookie cutouts that are decorated all fancy-like. Xander just had his 5th birthday party (so expect more posts in the next week or so about some of the other stuff I made for the birthday boy!) over the weekend. For the theme, he chose Scooby-Doo. This was hardly a shock; the boy is Scooby-obsessed lately. So I decided it would be fun to make some decorated sugar cookies and put them in each of the goody bags we would give out at the end of the party.

I realized when choosing a design that I needed the shape to be as simple as possible. I mean, I'm just a beginner at this, so I didn't want to worry about cutting out dog shapes or something difficult like that. I settled on Scooby's diamond-shaped dog tag, on his collar. Following Martha Stewart's recipe for basic sugar cookie cutouts was easy. It turns out that you really have to devote a lot of time to chilling the dough, then letting it rest, then rolling out the shapes, then freezing the shapes before baking. That last step really helps a lot. It helps so much with maintaining the shape of the cookie while it's in the oven.

So now that I had my perfectly formed cookies, I was all set to decorate! Now, I made some mistakes this time around, but I have learned from those mistakes and I'm getting the hang of things. I had been debating whether to outline the diamond in yellow, then flood the entire inside with the blue. After letting that sit for at least 12 hours, I could then pipe Scooby's initials on top. As it turns out, that would have been smart, but I didn't go that route.

What we did (because I'm impatient and I asked Andy to help decorate after I'd done only 3 cookies) was outline the entire diamond in yellow, then write the SD initials. After about an hour, when the yellow had hardened, we flooded the rest of the cookie with blue.

I'll back up a bit here. I'd been looking at other blogs the week leading up to this decorating extravaganza, getting an idea of what I should do. Among the best resources out there were Bake at 350 and Sweetopia; I think so, anyway. I learned all about how the outlining should be done with the royal icing that you initially make. Then, when you need to flood, or fill in, the cookie, you need to thin out the royal icing so it's a good consistency for filling and spreading. I did all that without a hitch. However, having never worked with the thinned icing before, I didn't realize how much harder I was making it on myself to have to fill in all the nooks and crannies around the SD initials.

So it was slow and tedious work. But it won't be next time I decide to make cookies, because now I know better! If I had just saved the initials for last, it would have been a piece of cake. But as I said, I've learned now, and I can only improve from here!

I thought, after everything was said, and done, and decorated, that they turned out really cute. I was very aware of the spots that weren't perfectly smooth, or the places where I had accidentally smudged blue up over the yellow lines, but nobody had anything negative to say about them. Plus, they were....original! I mean, you could definitely tell they were handcrafted, for better or worse. They were like snowflakes; no two exactly the same! I had a blast with this, and I can't wait to try again. I need the practice!

Sugar Cookie Cutouts

from Martha Stewart's Cookies

makes about 2 dozen 4-inch cookies

Ingredients

4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Royal Icing (optional, recipe follows)

Directions

1. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.

2. Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Divide dough in half; flatten each half into a disk. Wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Let one disk of dough stand at room temperature just until soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to just under 1/4 inch thick, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking. Cut out cookies with desired cookie cutter, transferring shapes to parchment paper-lined baking sheets as you work. Roll out the scraps, and repeat. Repeat with remaining disk of dough. Chill cookies in freezer until very firm, about 15 minutes.

4. Bake, switching positions of sheets and rotating halfway through, until edges turn golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. To decorate, tint icing with food coloring, if using. Flood tops of cookies with icing. Continue to decorate as desired. After icing cookies, let them sit out overnight to set. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Royal Icing

from Bake at 350

covers 2-3 dozen cookies in 2 colors

Ingredients

4 Tbsp. meringue powder

scant 1/ cup water

1 lb. powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 tsp. light corn syrup (optional, but I used it)

few drops clear extract (optional, but I used it)

gel-paste food coloring (optional, but I used it)

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the meringue powder and the water. Beat until combined and foamy. Sift in the powdered sugar, and beat on low to combine. Add in the corn syrup and extract, if using.

2. Increase the speed to medium-high/high and beat for about 5 minutes, just until the icing is glossy and stiff peaks form. Do not overbeat.

3. Cover with plastic wrap covering the surface of the icing, or divide and tint as desired. (I stored mine in the refrigerator until ready to use.)

Pizza Pot Pies

I've had Giada De Laurentiis' book Giada's Kitchen for about a year and a half now, and I've had my eye on this recipe that entire time. Unfortunately, I was missing one very important thing that I would need to make it: a set of ramekins. I've been wanting these forever; oh, to be able to make some molten chocolate cake in them! I'm sure those will be featured here on this very blog sometime soon...

But back to the Pizza Pot Pies. As I was saying, I've wanted to make these, and now that I finally have ramekins, I was presented with an opportunity to try them out! I wanted to make these during the week that my mother and father in-law were to be in town. They seemed so simple, not to mention adorable. What could be wrong with that?

These are a breeze to put together; the hardest part is portioning out the dough and fitting it over each ramekin. Simply make a quick tomato sauce, then mix that together with storebought rotisserie chicken, some fresh veggies, cubes of mozzarella cheese, and some salt and pepper. Giada says to use broccoli, cut into bite-size pieces, but we had tons of fresh zucchini to use up, so I went with that instead. I'm really glad I did, because I found out later that my father in-law really doesn't like broccoli, but everybody likes the zucchini!

Once you have this mixture, you divide it evenly into your ramekins. Then, you take your pizza dough, divide it into even pieces, and cover each ramekin with it. I took more liberties here; Giada would like you to cut circles out of the dough to fit over the ramekins. I used my kitchen scale here. I weighed the dough as a whole, then divided it evenly into 6 balls. These balls were then stretched to fit over the tops of the ramekins. Much easier this way, I think!

Finally, the tops of the dough are brushed with olive oil, then Parmesan cheese is sprinkled over that. They bake in the oven for about 25 minutes, and that's it! You want to let them rest briefly before cutting into them; they'll be screaming hot.

And now, a quick confession. I was all set to make these for my guests. I got my sauce made, threw all the chicken, zucchini, and mozzarella in a bowl to mix together, and made an easy pizza dough in my bread machine. Then....it hit. I'm still not exactly sure what happened to me, but I came down with some kind of bug, and it knocked me off my feet. Suddenly I found that the work I had yet to do in the kitchen was daunting; I didn't know if I could pull it off. My dreams of finally using those ramekins were fading fast.

Luckily, my wonderful hubby and his mom stepped in and took over. They were able to assemble the pot pies and bake them for me. I just wanted to get that off my chest. Anywhere above where you see that "I" did a part of the recipe, it could have either been me or one of them. I wanted to give credit where credit was due! Sadly, I wasn't able to eat dinner with them that evening; I was just too sick. But they did save me a pot pie, and I enjoyed mine the next night.

Everybody really loved these! They're fun, they're a snap to make (which I think we proved when I had to quit mid-preparation, and my lovely assistants were easily able to finish up for me!), and they're even fabulous as leftovers. I just wrapped mine in foil the next night and baked in a low oven for close to an hour. Delicious!

Pizza Pot Pies

adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

makes 6 individual pot pies

Ingredients

For the sauce:

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp. minced fresh rosemary leaves

2 oz. diced bacon (Giada used pancetta)

1 (28-0z.) can crushed tomatoes

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

For the pot pies:

3 cups Tomato Sauce (see above)

2 cups diced roasted chicken (from a purchased roasted chicken)

2 cups zucchini, diced (the original calls for bite-size pieces of broccoli)

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, diced

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 lbs. pizza dough, either purchased or homemade (we used homemade)

1/3 cup olive oil

6 Tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Special equipment:

6 (10-0z.) ramekins (I only had a 9-0z. size, which worked fine)

Directions

Make the tomato sauce: 1. Warm the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, rosemary, and bacon (or pancetta) and sauce until the bacon (or pancetta) is crisp and golden, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, stir to combine, and simmer over very low heat for 15 minutes. Add the salt and pepper. Set aside.

Make the pot pies: 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine the tomato sauce, chicken, zucchini (or broccoli), mozzarella, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Divide the chicken mixture evenly among 6 ramekins.

2. Roll out the pizza dough 1/2- to 3/4-inch thick, and use a paring knife to cut circles that are 1 inch larger in diameter than the ramekins. Set the circles of dough over the filled ramekins and press down to seal, making sure to pull the dough over the edges of each ramekin.

3. Brush the pizza crust with the olive oil and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Cut a small slit in the top with the paring knife. Bake until the pizza crust is golden, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before serving.

CEIMB: Shrimp Fra Diavolo with Spinach

This week's Craving Ellie In My Belly recipe was chosen by Jennifer of The Rookie Baker. It was Shrimp Fra Diavolo with Spinach, and it was excellent! I knew I'd like it, just based on the list of ingredients, but I had no idea how much I'd love it.

The preparation is fast and simple. Cook up some red onions in a skillet, followed by some garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, dried oregano, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, wine, and some salt and pepper. I had no white wine on hand, so I used some red instead. I thought it tasted great, and it tinted my onions an even purpley-er (invented word alert!) color, so it was kinda fun to look at, too. I did whir up my can of diced tomatoes with my immersion blender, so there would be no discernible chunks.

After a brief simmering period, you throw in your shrimp and some fresh spinach. The shrimp I used was already cooked, so I put them in last and just warmed them through. The spinach wilted down nicely, and gave the dish a nice, vibrant dash of color.

I guess the reason Ellie recommends the diced tomatoes is because if you use tomato puree, the sauce becomes a bit too thin, too runny. That's what ended up happening with my sauce. At the end of cooking, the sauce was sort of all pooled up on the bottom of my skillet and not so mixed up with the other components. It all worked out fine in the end; I just scooped up some of that sauce when dishing it up and spooned it down over the top.

As for the taste, I was pleasantly surprised! As I said before, I knew I would like this meal, but I didn't know it would have so much flavor. The crushed red pepper really did give everything a good kick, and the wine imparted tons of depth. The tomatoes were perfectly tart, the oregano gave it a nice Italian feel, and the shrimp was succulent and perfect. I don't think I'd change anything about this dish (other than what I already changed, of course!), which is saying quite a lot. I almost always change up a recipe, even if just a little. But this one is wonderful as is.

I had a hard time finding the full recipe online, but I found half of it! The ingredients list for this recipe can be found here.

As for the directions, they're simple:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add spaghetti and cook until al dente and according to the directions on the package.

2. Meanwhile, thinly slice the red onion and preheat a skillet to medium-high heat. Add 1 Tbsp. of the olive oil, then the onion. Cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for another minute. Add the tomatoes, wine, tomato paste, the remaining 1 Tbsp. olive oil, the oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper, and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, 8 to 10 minutes.

3. Add the shrimp and spinach and cook, stirring, until the shrimp is just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the drained, cooked pasta to the sauce and toss until well combined.

German Chocolate Cupcakes

Here's an easy, fun variation on a classic: German Chocolate Cupcakes, courtesy of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book. Just like its layer cake counterpart, this cupcake is made by layering chocolate cake with a coconut pecan frosting. I had never made this type of cake before and finally had an excuse to try when my mother in-law's birthday came along.

I made the chocolate cupcakes the day before; they keep very well at room temperature. I followed Martha's recipe almost exactly, with the exception of using a slightly darker chocolate than what was called for. Instead of melted semisweet chocolate, I went for 60% cacao chocolate. I'm sure it is great with the semisweet, but I like the chocolate flavor to be a bit more pronounced, and we all loved it this way.

The coconut-pecan frosting is just as easy; you just have to babysit the stove for 10 minutes so that the ingredients don't burn while cooking. Egg yolks, evaporated milk, brown sugar, and butter are heated on the stovetop. Stirring constantly, you eventually are left with a thick, caramel-colored sort of custard. Finally, you strain out any remaining solids, add in vanilla, salt, and the coconut and toasted pecans, and stir it all together!

Mine thickened considerably upon cooling, and I found that the next day, it was even more solid. I realized that I could actually scoop out a bit of frosting and form it into a shape with my hands, and it would retain that shape. In the end that made it very simple to assemble the cupcakes. Nothing dripped or oozed out the sides as I feared would happen when I first found the recipe.

The cupcakes, when sliced straight across through their centers, were sturdy and did not crumble or fall apart from being cut in half. It was a great cake recipe for that reason; I could see it translating well into layer cake form and being very forgiving when leveled and frosted.

Most importantly, the birthday girl loved her cupcakes! They were delicious, they were attractive, and they were gone fast! What more could you want?

German Chocolate Cupcakes

from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

makes 24 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for tins

2 cups cake flour, sifted, plus more for tins

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/3 cups sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

5 oz. semisweet chocolate (I used bittersweet 60% cacao chocolate), melted and cooled

For the frosting:

3 large egg yolks

1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk (I used fat-free)

1 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, room temperature

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. salt

1 package (7 ounces) sweetened flaked coconut

1 1/2 cups pecans (6 ounces), toasted and coarsely chopped

Directions

Make cupcakes: 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush standard muffin tins with butter; dust with cake flour, tapping out excess. Whisk together cake flour, baking soda, and salt.

2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each. Beat in chocolate until combined.

3. Divide batter evenly among prepared cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfways through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes. Run a small offset spatula or knife around the edges to loosen; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored up to three days at room temperature in airtight containers.

Make frosting: 1. Heat egg yolks, evaporated milk, brown sugar, and butter in a saucepan over medium, stirring constantly, until thick, about 10 minutes (it should reach the consistency of sour cream). Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl.

2. Stir vanilla, salt, coconut, and pecans into frosting. Let cool completely, stirring occasionally. Frosting can be refrigerated up to 1 day in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature and stir with a flexible spatula until smooth.

Assemble cupcakes: 1. To finish, use a serrated knife (and a gentle sawing motion) to split cupcakes in half horizontally. Spread a heaping tablespoon of frosting on top of each bottom half; replace top halves. Spread more frosting on top of each cupcake. Serve immediately.