Almond Joy Cupcakes

This afternoon I was lucky to have just enough time, to whip up a small test batch of what I call "Almond Joy" cupcakes. Don't they look delicious!? Well believe me they were! These did not last very long at all once the kids were home from school.

I was doing a bit of experimenting with the layered-flavor style cupcake that seems to be so popular right now. I have not had much experience with this, so today was all trial and error. The best part of that is you get to eat all the errors, and they taste great too!

I started with a dark chocolate cupcake base, with coconut, chocolate chips, and an almond baked into the bottom portion. Once these were cooled, I cut a spot in the top to fill the middle with a chocolate ganache. Once filled I replaced the cap of the cupcake and frosted with a sweet coconut buttercream icing. To complete the taste and look of an Almond Joy candy bar, I then topped the filled cupcakes with coconut, chocolate ganache drizzle, a chocolate chip and a roasted almond.

YUM!

I liked the frosting, although perhaps next time I will make it a little less sweet. The almond (roasted, salted) was a good touch. The chocolate ganache filling was a good compliment too. I think next time I will not bake additional coconut and almond into the bottoms of the cake though, instead I might just add them in the middle right before filling with the ganache.

Please take a look and tell me if you have tried a similar recipe and what worked best for you.

Till next time,

Deb