Sticky caramel and coconut cupcakes

These cupcakes are adapted from a cake recipe my friend Holly introduced me to in college. "Bette than sex cake," was what she called it. Not exactly safe for bringing goodies to work.

Take your favorite chocolate cake - we use Betty Crocker German chocolate (yes, I actually used a box mix for this). Poke holes in the cake as its cooling. If you're making a sheetcake, use the end of a wooden spoon. For these, I used the larger end of a chopstick.

Let the cake cool completely. Mix together 1 can jar (about 12-14 oz) of caramel and 1 can of sweetened condensed milk and pour over the cake. This gets insanely messy. I ended up sort of painting it on with a silicone brush. addendum: For a sheet cake, you will probably use all of the caramel, and all of the condensed milk. For 2 pans of cupcakes, I had a TON of leftover, so I just spooned it back into the caramel jar for later uses.

Give the caramel about 30-45 mins to soak into the cake. Use 1 can of pecan coconut frosting and ice the cupcakes.

Top the frosting layer with a layer of whipped cream (the recipe calls for cool whip). I also like to go one step further and dip them in coconut.

Dreaming? of a cupcake reunion with Holly and Courtney