SAMOA COOKIE CUPCAKES aka CARAMEL DELIGHTS

Girl Scout cookies rule! Especially the Samoa cookies which have now been renamed "Caramel Delights." Different name, same cookie! I got a bunch of GS Cookies a few weeks back and I decided to create a Samoa cookie cupcake. The actual Samoa cookie consists of chocolate, coconut, and caramel. In order to transform a cookie to the world of cupcakes I decided to make a rich chocolate cake lined with a Samoa cookie crust and topped with a delicious caramel buttercream, coconut, crushed Samoa cookies and lastly a whole Samoa cookie for garnish. How can this be bad?

Last week I experimented with the Hershey's chocolate cake displayed on the side of the cocoa can. This time I went with Ghirardelli's grand fudge cake which you can also find on the side of the cocoa can. I must say, Ghirardelli's recipe was better than Hershey's. I found it to be richer and more brownie like. The tops of the cupcakes cracked like brownies while the insides were fudgy and sweet. I added 1/2 cup of coconut to the chocolate cake batter before baking. I didn't want to go too crazy with the coconut as I didn't want it to become an overbearing ingredient. I needed to leave room for the tastes of caramel and chocolate. I topped each cupcake with a caramel buttercream that was insanely sinful. It was a pain in the butt to make because it involved a lot of waiting around time but it was oh so very worth it. After I piped the buttercream on I very finely crushed up some Samoa cookies and sprinkled them on top. Lastly, I garnished with a one-half of a Samoa. These were UNREAL. They tasted JUST like a Samoa cookie! Mission: Accomplished.
Check out my Samoa cheese tart that I made last year!

SAMOA COOKIE CUPCAKES
Grand Fudge Cake by Ghirardelli, recipe customized by me
Made 24 regular sized cupcakes and 24 minis

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup(s) Unsweetened Cocoa
• 2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cup(s) sugar
• 1 teaspoon(s) baking powder
• 1 teaspoon(s) baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
• 1 cup(s) butter or margarine, softened
• 1 1/3 cup(s) milk
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoon(s) vanilla
• 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
  

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease and lightly flour two 9-inch round cake pans. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and add vanilla and eggs one at a time, scraping bowl after each addition. Alternately add flour mixture and milk (starting and ending with the flour mixture), while mixing on low speed. Continue to mix until smooth. Stir in coconut. Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center of cake comes out clean. I don't remember how long I baked the cupcakes for-just keep an eye out. It was somewhere in the 15-18 minute range.

Caramel Buttercream (my own recipe)
2 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup heavy whipping cream, (put 2-3 tbsp aside)
1/2 tsp baking soda
3-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1. In a medium, heavy saucepan, bring the sugar and cream to a rolling boil. Boil one minute. Add soda, and boil one more minute. Remove from heat. Add butter, but do not stir yet. Let the mixture cool in the fridge for 1-2 hours. As tempting as it is to stir make sure the mixture is completely cooled. It will look like a thick gummy caramel paste.
   
2. Pour mixture into a stand mixer and, using the paddle attachment, beat well. Gradually add powdered sugar alternately with 2-3 tbsp of heavy cream. Beat until desire consistency.

Decorate with crushed Samoas, coconut, and 1/2 Samoa cookie.