These fluffy and soft made-from-scratch gluten-free german chocolate mini cupcakes are a decadent little sweet treat, perfect for when you need a bite of something full of coconut, chocolate, and creaminess!

 German chocolate cake was my dad's favorite cake in the whole world.  So to honor him and his 59th birthday, I made a batch of these gluten-free german chocolate mini cupcakes and brought them to Nashville so that my family could partake in celebrating his birthday with me over this past Easter weekend.

Easter was good to my family.  With my dad recently passing away, there were moments that were hard, we missed him like crazy, but my little family was together and got to share some laughs and enjoy some delicious food.  We hung outside in the warm Nashville sun, drank wine, and reminisced.  Then I brought out these gluten-free german chocolate cupcakes  that were a huge hit!

The chocolate cupcake is naturally sweetened with honey.  The cupcakes are smooth and fluffy and decadently chocolatey.  The homemade chocolate frosting is quickly mixed together for a sweet helping of creamy sweet chocolate.  And all of that is topped with a "praline jam", a smooth and sweet coconut topping that takes like a praline melted in your mouth.  And then of course there was fresh pecan slices as sprinkles, for a bit of crunch in all that soft and fluffiness! Decadent to the core!

If you are planning on traveling with these treats, I recommend making the chocolate cupcakes in advanced.  I also make the frosting and praline jam ahead of time, sticking each of them in a ziplock bag and piping the frosting and placing the praline topping on the cupcakes after you have arrived at the cupcakes final destination.  These little guys are a bit top heavy and can tip in car rides.

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Gluten-Free German Chocolate Cupcakes

Yield: 36

Prep Time: 35 minutes

Cook Time: 13 minutes

Total Time: 48 minutes

These fluffy and soft made-from-scratch gluten-free german chocolate mini cupcakes are a decadent little sweet treat, perfect for when you need a bite of something full of coconut, chocolate, and creaminess!

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Ingredients

• ½ cup GF coconut flour
• ¾ cup GF unsweetened cocoa powder, divided
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt, plus a pinch or two extra
• 1 cup fresh honey
• 6 eggs
• 4 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 14 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened (and divided into 6 tablespoon & 8 TBSP)
• 2 ⅓ cup GF powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoon milk
• 2 teaspoon GF vanilla extract, divided
• 3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 8 oz . GF evaporated milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 ¼ cup GF sweetened shredded coconut, or more if you love coconut!
• 1 cup GF pecans, chopped (and more for garnish!)

Instructions

1. CUPCAKES: Preheat your oven to 350*F. Place muffin cups in the bottoms of your muffin tin. Set aside.
2. Mix the coconut flour, ½ cup cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together. In a different bowl, mix the eggs, honey, and 4 tablespoon melted butter together. With a mixer, slowly combine the dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients and mix well until you get a smooth batter.
3. Allow the batter to expand (coconut flour expands once wet) for 5-10 minutes and then place the batter into the bottom ⅔ of each muffin cup.
4. Bake for 12-15 minutes (13 minutes is perfect in my oven), or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcakes comes out clean. Cool mini cupcakes on a baking rack before applying frosting.
5. CHOCOLATE FROSTING:
6. While the cupcakes are baking, beat 6 tablespoon softened butter with the hand mixer until fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and mix well with hand mixer until smooth.
7. Add ¼ cup cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, milk, and a pinch of salt and combine over medium speed once more until smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
8. COCONUT PRALINE JAM:
9. Mix 8 tablespoon butter, evaporated milk, 3 egg yolks, sugar, coconut, and a pinch of salt in a saucepan over medium-high heat and allow to simmer until reduced by ⅓ and thick. Add in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and chopped pecans and mix well.
10. Remove from heat and allow to cool before piping the chocolate frosting and then the praline jam on top of each chocolate cupcake. Enjoy!

If making regular-sized cupcakes, you may need to adjust the baking time.  The gluten-free german chocolate mini cupcakes can easily be stored in an airtight container overnight (but we really didn't have any leftovers!).