These Samoa Cupcakes are moist chocolate cupcakes with caramel frosting, toasted coconut topping, and melted chocolate decoration. These girl scout cookie cupcakes are the perfect way to honor the classic cookie, and they are so fun and easy to make!
Why This Recipe Works
Moist and Easy Chocolate Cupcakes- These cupcakes are so simple to whip up. They don't require a mixer and have the lightest and fluffiest texture!
Salted Caramel Buttercream- This buttercream is so silky, velvety, and smooth. It's made with just 3 ingredients in just 5 minutes.
Girl Scout Cookie Cupcakes- These cupcakes pay homage to the classic girl scout cookie flavor. They incorporate chocolate, toasted coconut, and caramel sauce!
Chocolate Cupcake Ingredients
- All Purpose Flour: You'll use regular, plain all purpose flour to create these moist cupcakes. Make sure to measure properly to avoid dry, hard cupcakes. Read "Expert Tips & Tricks" below for tips on doing so!
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Your chocolate flavor comes from cocoa powder. I use natural cocoa powder, but dutch should work too.
- Baking Powder + Baking Soda: These two leavening agents create a domed, fluffy cupcake!
- Salt: Salt brings out sweetness in baked treats.
- Granulated Sugar: Sugar adds to sweetness, moisture, and structure.
- Vegetable Oil: Using oil creates a moist cupcake that stays moist longer!
- Eggs: Eggs add structure to the cupcakes. Make sure these are large eggs at room temperature.
- Vanilla Extract: Though these cupcakes have a deep, rich, and fudgy chocolate flavor, vanilla extract rounds out the flavor.
- Sour Cream: Adding sour cream to your batter results in a tender and moist cupcake.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk adds to a lighter, softer crumb. You can make homemade buttermilk by reading the steps in "Expert Tips & Tricks" below.
Step by Step Cupcake Process
STEP 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, line your muffin tray with liners.
STEP 2: In a medium-sized bowl, whisk your dry ingredients together. The dry ingredients are all purpose flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
STEP 3: In a large bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together. This includes granulated sugar, vegetable oil, room temperature eggs, vanilla extract, room temperature sour cream, and room temperature buttermilk together. Whisk until smooth.
STEP 4: Carefully use a wire whisk to mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix only until you see the dry ingredients disappear into the batter.
STEP 5: Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners. You should be adding about ¼-1/3 cup of batter to each cupcake insert until the liners are about ¾ full.
STEP 6: Bake cupcakes for 18-22 minutes. The tops should look domed, shiny, and set in the center. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out with moist crumbs. Allow the cupcakes to cool before frosting.
How to Make Moist Cupcakes
- Use room temperature ingredients. Cold ingredients will not allow the batter to come together properly. This will impact the light and fluffy texture of the cupcakes after baking.
- Measure the ingredients properly because there is a researched and tested amount of each ingredient. This means that inaccurately measuring ingredients could lead to unfavorable results.
- Do not overbake the cupcakes because doing so will lead to dry cupcakes. Only bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs. The top of the cupcake should spring back when poked with your pointer finger.
Decorating Samoa Cupcakes
Toast the coconut flakes: Start by spreading your coconut flakes on a sheet pan. Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until your desired level of darkness is reached.
Make the salted caramel frosting: Begin preparing the frosting by combining room temperature butter and powdered sugar together. You'll want to mix until the two are smooth. Then, mix caramel sauce into the frosting.
Melt the chocolate chips: Next, heat your chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second increments or over the stovetop. Then, transfer the melted chocolate to a piping bag or zippable plastic bag with a small portion of the corner snipped off to create a makeshift piping bag.
Decorate: Frost the cupcakes as desired with the prepared frosting. After, top them with a dollop of caramel and toasted coconut. Then, drizzle melted chocolate on top before adding an optional cookie.
Frequently Asked Questions
Samoas are a Girl Scout cookie inspired by the island of Samoa. The cooke is a buttery shortbread cookie topped with coconut, caramel, and chocolate.
Samoa cookies combine chocolate, caramel, and toasted coconut!
Expert Tips & Tricks
- Measuring Flour: You absolutely need to measure your flour correctly by either-
- using a kitchen scale to measure 105g of flour exactly
- using a spoon to transfer flour to your measuring cups before taking a knife to sweep across the top of the measuring cup in order to level the top
- Homemade Buttermilk: Using regular milk as opposed to buttermilk could result in denser, flatter cupcakes. To make buttermilk from home-
- First, add 1 ½ teaspoons (½ tablespoon) of white vinegar or lemon juice to a measuring cup
- Then, pour room temperature dairy milk into the container to reach the ½ cup mark
- Finally, mix the milk and lemon juice or vinegar together before letting it sit for 5 minutes
- Mixer: I recommend using a mixer to make your frosting. This means that whipping the frosting will be 100x easier. If you whip the frosting as directed, you'll end up with the silkiest, smoothest frosting.
Related Recipes
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Samoa Girl Scout Cookie Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12 cupcakes 1x
- Category: Cupcake, Chocolate, Samoa, Caramel
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
These Samoa Cupcakes are moist chocolate cupcakes with caramel frosting, toasted coconut topping, and melted chocolate decoration. These girl scout cookie cupcakes are the perfect way to honor the classic cookie, and they are so fun and easy to make!
Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cupcakes
- ¾ cup (105g) all purpose flour
- ½ cup (40g) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (210g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (50g) vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs (100g), room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup (85g) sour cream, room temperature
- ½ cup (120g) buttermilk, room temperature
For the Caramel Frosting
- 1 cup (220g) unsalted butter, cool
- 2 cups (220g) powdered sugar
- ½ cup (160g) caramel sauce, room temperature
For the Decoration
- ⅔ cup (80g) coconut flakes
- ¼ cup (45g) chocolate chips
- ⅓ cup (107g) caramel sauce
- optional: 12 Samoa cookies
Instructions
For the Chocolate Cupcakes
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 12 count muffin tin with liners.
- In a medium bowl, use a wire whisk to stir properly measured flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.
- In a large bowl, whisk granulated sugar, vegetable oil, room temperature eggs, vanilla extract, room temperature sour cream, and room temperature buttermilk together with a whisk until smooth.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients. Stir carefully and slowly only until you see the flour pieces disappear into the batter. Overmixing could lead to dry, dense cupcakes.
- Divide the batter between the 12 muffin liners, adding about ¼-1/3 cup of batter to each liner.
- Bake the cupcakes for 18-22 minutes or until the cupcakes have a nice dome, the tops look slightly shiny, the centers look set, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out with moist crumbs. Allow the cupcakes to fully cool before decorating.
For the Toasted Coconut
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Sprinkle the coconut flakes on a baking sheet before placing the sheet in the oven for 5-10 minutes until your desired level of darkness is reached. Stir the coconut pieces occasionally on the pan to ensure even heating across the baking sheet. The coconut will toast quickly, so keep an eye on it!
- Allow the coconut flakes to cool while you prepare the chocolate.
For the Caramel Frosting
- In a large bowl with an electric hand mixer or in the bowl of your stand mixer that is fitted with a paddle attachment, mix cool butter and powdered sugar together until smooth. This should take about 2 minutes.
- Pour the caramel sauce into the frosting and beat on high speed for 3-5 minutes. Stop the mixer at least once while mixing to use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl to ensure the caramel sauce is dispersed throughout.
- If desired, transfer the frosting to a piping bag with a tip of your choice or a zippable plastic bag with the corner snipped off. If you are not transferring, cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap, aluminum foil, or a moist towel to ensure it does not get stiff while you prepare the chocolate.
For the Decoration
- Melt the chocolate chips in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, or in a microwave-safe bowl in 30 second intervals, stirring thoroughly in between each round.
- If desired, transfer melted chocolate to a piping bag or ziploc bag with the corner snipped off for greater control.
- Frost each cupcake as desired with the salted caramel frosting.
- Top each cupcake with about a teaspoon-sized dollop of salted caramel topping.
- Add cooled, toasted coconut flakes on top of the salted caramel, pushing the flakes into the topping to ensure that they stick.
- Run your hand back and forth over each cupcake with melted chocolate to drizzle the chocolate on top of each cupcake.
- If desired, top each cupcake with a Samoa cookie.
- Store the cupcakes at room temperature or in an airtight container or tightly covered for up to 4 days.
Notes
Flour: Measure flour properly by measuring out 105g of flour exactly using a kitchen scale or by using a spoon to transfer flour from your container to your measuring cups before using a knife to sweep across the top and level off the peak.
Caramel Sauce: You can use a homemade or store-bought caramel sauce. Just ensure the caramel is at room temperature before using it in the frosting and as decoration.
Decorating: Do not decorate the cupcakes until they have cooled. The frosting will melt off of the cupcake if it is still warm.
Keywords: Samoa Cookie Cupcakes, Samoa Cupcakes, Moist Chocolate Cupcakes, Caramel Frosting
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