My motivation for making the cupcake box was fueled largely because I was dying to experiment with a cupcake recipe I had floating around in my head. Despite my doubts at various times in the process, the cupcakes turned out mind-blowingly yummy. It took some effort, but not as much as a Christmas Yule log. I had seen a blog post somewhere (it's really too bad I don't remember which blog I saw it on) about how Baskin Robbins serves ice cream in chocolate molded into cupcake cups. My mouth started salivating, I'm really on a chocolate kick right now. However, as much as I like chocolate, though, I really, REALLY hate eating chocolate chunks cold. THEN, my head started thinking about how easy it would be to use that idea for cupcakes. Here's what I did (I made 18 cupcakes):

1. melt chocolate (dark) with a tablespoon or two of butter in a double boiler
2. spoon chocolate into silicone cupcake cups and swirled it around until the cupcake cup was evenly coated
3. refrigerate cups for a couple of hours
4. make chocolate cake batter (from a box)
5. spoon batter into a mini cupcake pan and bake according to box directions (all while chocolate cupcake cups are still in the fridge)
6. boil a can of sweetened condensed milk in a pan for an hour and 15 minutes (directions on how to do this HERE)
7. allow the caramelized milk and mini cupcakes to cool (overnight or in the fridge for a few hours)

Here's how I assembled it:

1. spoon the caramelized milk into a ziplock or pastry bag and pipe a tablespoon or two of caramel mixture into each cup
2. place mini cupcakes inside and push down to spread caramel around
3. frost with frosting
4. place in the refrigerator to cool before serving
5. eat at room temperature

How to make the Frosting:

1. whip cream (1-2 cups) to stiff peak
2. blend in blender or food processor a cup or two of coconut (to taste)
3. fold coconut and 3-4 tablespoons of powdered sugar into whipped cream and pipe on top of cupcakes.

I thoroughly enjoyed the cupcakes (so did the rest of the Esplin clan). This cupcake was kind of a mash-up of three desserts that remind me of my childhood. The chocolate, caramel and coconut flavors remind me of my mother's German Chocolate cake that she'd make for me every year for my birthday (my favorite), the whip cream, chocolate and caramel flavors remind me of my dad's score cake (or better-than-sex cake). Yup, my dad cooks. He's cool. The coconut and whip cream frosting reminds me of a Sunday dessert that my grandma Scott used to make often (oh how I miss her). So really, this cupcake is heaven for me because it reminds me of some of my favorite people and how much I love them. I had some extra cake left over so I sliced some banana on top of the cake, frosted it and served it with a caramel sauce. This disappeared just as fast as the cupcakes did. I'll definitely be repeating this in the future. MMM!