Ohhh Mocha Cupcakes… For AGES I’ve been wanting to put coffee in one of my recipes. I am not a traditional coffee drinker. I’ve never liked it, but I’ve always wanted to. So for the past year or so I’ve been trying to wean myself on it. Stupid really, but I’d like to feel more grown up and answer ‘yes’ when I’m offered a cup on a cold winters morning. Part of this ‘weaning’ process is to add it to a bake (and cover it with lots of other things I like). So here it is, my indulgent mocha cupcake!
Don’t let my tentative coffee feelings make you think these don’t have a strong ‘coffee’ taste, they blooming do. I hate mild, mediocre flavours, I want a caffeine zing and these have ’em.
Makes 12 cupcakes
Mocha Cupcake Ingredients
For The Mocha Cupcakes
3 tbsp fine coffee granules/espresso powder (+ 1 tsp)
1 tbsp water
175g self raising flour
2 tbsp cocoa
200g unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
2 medium eggs
For The Coffee Cream Filling
1 tbsp coffee granules/espresso powder
1 tbsp water
150g cream cheese (full fat)
3 tbsp icing sugar (sifted)
For The White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
115g cream cheese
50g unsalted butter (at room temperature)
100g white chocolate
250g icing sugar (sifted)
cocoa to decorate
Line a 12 hole cupcake tray with cupcake liners
Preheat oven to 175oC
For The Mocha Cupcakes
1) Boil a kettle, then in a mug make your very strong coffee (almost paste-like) with the 3tbsp of fine coffee granules and 1 tbsp of water. Leave to the side and allow to cool.
2) In a medium bowl sift together the flour, 1tsp coffee and cocoa. Set aside.
3) In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar with an electric whisk (see tips and hints trick page number 6 for perfect mixing!) Then whisk in the eggs (one at a time) followed by the cooled coffee.
4) Pour in half the flour mixture to your butter mixture bowl and fold together slowly, when JUST combined, add the remaining half and repeat.
5) Fill your cupcake holders with the batter until they are 3/4 full (they will rise when baking) and pop on the middle shelf of the preheated oven for about 18-20 mins. They are done when a skewer inserted comes out clean and they are slightly browned round the edges. Leave to cool in the tray and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Coffee Cream Filling
1) Using the already boiled water, make your second tiny coffee with the coffee granules and water. Set aside (this should be cold)
2) Pop your cream cheese into a medium bowl and whisk on high speed for a few minutes, turn the whisk down to a medium speed and beat in the cold coffee, followed (little by little) with the icing sugar. Mix until everything is evenly combined. Pop in the fridge.
For The White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
1) Melt your white chocolate. You can do this in a microwave (takes about 3 mins, need to keep checking it and stirring) or my preferred method is in a bowl placed over a saucepan of boiling water. This takes a little longer but it’s easier to keep an eye on it so you can see if it’s burning or not. Once all melted, set aside and leave to cool.
2) In a large bowl beat together the cream cheese and butter. Add the cooled chocolate (and please make sure it is properly cooled otherwise this will curdle – yuk!) and mix. Finally add the icing sugar, little by little, and mix until everything is evenly combined and smooth.
Side Note: If you like your frosting a little thicker, add more icing sugar, if you want to loosen it up a bit add a tsp or 2 of milk.
3) Pop in the fridge.
To Assemble The Cupcakes
1) Once the cupcakes are completely cool, make a small hole in the middle of each one. If you have an apple corer then that’s a handy tool to use or, if not, just use a sharp knife, like me. You want the hole to be just bigger than a pound coin in width and about half way down the cupcake depth-wise. Discard the middle bit of the cupcake you have just taken out (I nibble on it while assembling). Do this with all the cupcakes.
2) Fill these holes with the coffee cream filling until they are level with the top of the cake.
3) Pop your desired amount of white chocolate frosting on top of the cupcake either with a spoon or if you are fancy, pipe it on. Dust with a little cocoa for decoration.
After all that hard work you are DONE. So go and enjoy. You’ll need a bit of caffeine after that! :)
