Coconut Cream Cupcakes

Lately, I've been having a streak of recipe failures. Normally, I'm okay with a failed recipe or two (and even then once every blue moon). After I stop whining and complaining (kicking, screaming, crying), I find there's usually something to learn. Maybe I didn't have the right ratio of flour to fats. Maybe I substituted an ingredient I really shouldn't have. There are dozens of things that could have gone wrong and it's my job as the baker/detective to sort it out. I'm okay with solving baking crimes (well, it is a crime to see good food go to waste!). What I'm not okay with is a failed recipe where there was nothing to learn and I have no idea what went wrong.

That just makes me mad.

In the past week, I've had four recipes go sour. Four. I didn't share my lemon mousse with the texture verging on cottage cheese. I chose not to show you my coffee poached pears with the nightmare coffee caramel sauce. I even tried steaming some vegetables with a little vinegar and only ended up with a home that reeked of Little House on the Prairie. It's been a bad week for my kitchen. It's been a blow to my culinary confidence. I'm almost nervous to try something new for fear it will end up in the trash (again).

But these coconut cream cupcakes? These broke that awful streak (thank goodness). I honestly can't think of a change I'd do to make these better. These are just perfect.

These coconut cream cupcakes are reminiscent of a coconut cream pie. The cupcake is a traditional vanilla cupcake absolutely infused with coconut, including coconut milk and flaked coconut mixed throughout. If that isn't good enough, these cupcakes are then filled with a toasted coconut cream. Toasted coconut. They are finally topped with a vanilla whipped cream and a sprinkling of toasted coconut. These are addictive and so delicious. If you love coconut, you need to make these.

I should have called them Coconut Dream Cupcakes.

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Chocolate Frosted Yellow Cake

One of the reasons I discovered my passion for baking and started a food blog of my own is because of a certain special woman.

Deb, from Smitten Kitchen, inspired me to take out my baking pans and put them to good use. I discovered her gorgeous blog a year and a half ago and immediately spent the next three hours flipping through her recipes. At the time, I didn't really know what blogs were—much less that thousands existed about food—but I knew I was in love with what I saw. Little did I know this small discovery would alter the course of my life forever.

I made her recipes almost religiously for a few months as my food blog repertoire grew. She even inspired me to take out my camera and start snapping photos of my food. Even though I knew absolutely nothing about photography (much less how to properly photograph food), I wanted to learn. I'm almost embarrassed to show you, but this is my very first attempt at food photography. You can't even tell what it is. I think I've come a long way, don't you?

Now, a year and a half later, I have changed careers, swapping my physics textbooks for a pair of oven mitts. I can finally call myself a real baker.

I honestly believe this is the best cake I've ever made and eaten. Trust me on this—I would never lie to you about something so delicious. The yellow cake is buttery, sweet, and so moist it will make you want to cry tears of jubilation. This cake bakes up perfectly every single time. Every single time. It will forever be my go-to recipe for yellow cake. When you have found perfection (and you are looking at it), there is no need to search further. I have found my yellow cake soul mate.

Now let's not forget about the chocolate frosting. This frosting is mildly sweet (and won't make your teeth feel as if they are about to fall out, which I find quite important in my frosting recipes). There is a lot a of cocoa powder in this particular recipe so the frosting tastes deliciously of cocoa. It was very difficult not to eat this by the spoonful.

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