Almost-Better-than-Second-Base Cupcakes

One day, not too long ago, a good friend stumbled upon a video of Emily Nelson, wife of Packer WR Jordy Nelson, making “Better-than-Almost-Anything Cake.” As my friend described it to me, the pure gluttony of this cake made me want to make it… my way.  I’m not quite as innocent as Emily, so I added stout to the mix and nixed the condensed milk. I present to you “Almost-Better-than-Second-Base Cake.” Or as my husband labeled them at work “Mocha Stout with Caramel and Toffee.”

What You Need:

1 Package of German Chocolate Cake

Vegetable oil and eggs as called for on the box

1 -3.4 oz Package of Chocolate Pudding Mix

½ Cup of Stout (I used Oakshire Espresso Stout)

Caramel Topping

1 Container of Cool Whip Topping

1 Heath Bar (or another toffee candy bar)

What To Do:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line your cupcake pans with liners (it makes about 24 cupcakes).  You may want to double- line the tins since these cupcakes can be on the gooey side.

Mix the cake according to package instructions and add the stout to the mix. Divide the cake mix evenly among the cupcake tins. Bake according to package instructions.

Remove from the oven and let cool for about 20 minutes.

After the cupcakes have cooled, take a wooden spoon handle and make a hole in each cupcake. Drizzle the caramel over each cupcake, with a little extra going into the hole. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Frost each cupcake with the Cool Whip topping. Next, crush the toffee candy bar into pieces using a mallet, the thick handle of a kitchen utensil, or Clay Mathews’ wrecking ball of a hand. (Whichever you have access to will do.) Open the wrapper and sprinkle the toffee bits over each cupcake.

Store covered in the refrigerator.