Kona Bliss...a Swing and a Miss!

The past few weeks have been a crazy hectic mess around here, with two injured dogs, and out of town work trips.  Work took me back to Hawaii this week, and though I didn't get much free time, the sun, sand and scenery inspired me to get back into the kitchen and try to create a taste of that warmth.

My favorite part of going to Hawaii - apart from the sun - is the coffee.  I absolutely LOVE Kona coffee.  So I dreamt up these little gems.  Mocha cupcakes with macadamia nuts and coconut, topped with a mocha frosting and toasted coconut.

These were a total dream, so I kind of "winged it".  I started with some high-quality dark chocolate and butter, melted together.

I whipped together the eggs and sugar, then folded in the flour and cocoa.

Before folding in the melted chocolate and butter, I add a little instant coffee, to incorporate that coffee flavor.  (Side note: I LOVE these Via packets!  I travel quite a bit for work, and these little gems have saved me from bad truck-stop-style coffee on more than a few occasions.)  I then added some coconut and macadamia nuts.

I opted for a denser type cake base, to support the macadamia nuts and coconut. As they cooled, I whipped together a mocha buttercream.

The flavor on these is unbelievable.  I'm really happy with the flavor combo, but I still give these a B-.  In retrospect I would have gone with a lighter cake base and chopped the macadamia nuts even smaller.  But I would certainly make these again, adjusting as noted!