Coffee & Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla-Almond Frosting

Guess what I got to do Friday? I got to make BABY CUPCAKES!!!
I’m so excited to show you how I broke in my new (seriously nonstick) mini muffin pan. Wait, who are we kidding? We all know it is actually a mini cupcake pan.
Now that we’ve established that… Ta Da!!

delicious, dark cupcakes that smell like espresso and chocolat! Mmm…

Guess what these babies taste like? Chocolate and Coffee! Really, really strong coffee… Accidentally really, really strong coffee… But real men drink strong coffee, right? And who doesn’t want to be a real man? I know I do.

Anyway, this week’s baking theme was suggested by a friend of mine during a very long, late night of studying early in the week. His suggestion prompted a week of serious web searching for coffee-related recipes. It was one of my more challenging searches, as well. I found many more coffee & chocolate recipes than recipes with coffee alone, and finally decided to go ahead with a rich Mocha flavored cake.

These RICH cakes are heavy and dense, unlike the One-Bowl Cupcakes in my previous post. One friend commented that she could barely taste the chocolate because the coffee was so strong, but when I tried them the next day, the chocolate was obvious to me. The coffee may be distracting but the chocolate flavor would definitely be missed if it weren’t there. Because the cakes were so heavy, I chose to nix the plans of a coffee whipped cream and chose instead to balance the dark mocha with a vanilla-almond buttercream. You might not expect a buttercream to counteract the richness of the coffee and chocolate, but it is substantial enough to stand up it, and the almond (which I added on a whim) cuts the sweetness of the vanilla-sugar-butter base. I rather enjoyed them, as did many of my coffee-loving friends. Those who do not like coffee probably won’t like these.

Mocha Cupcakes
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream (I used 3/4 C buttermilk, room temp. + 1/3 c butter, room temp)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
5 rounded tablespoons cocoa powder (Increase for more prominent chocolate flavor)
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
3.5 tablespoons espresso powder ( I used ~5 rounded Tb instant coffee, which was probably a bit much)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used 1 t)

Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Insert liners into a cupcake pan.
On medium speed, cream together the sugar, butter, and eggs until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix in the sour cream.
In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, cocoa, and salt.
In a measuring cup combine the water, coffee and vanilla.
Alternate adding the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/sour cream mixture with the coffee mixture. Mix thoroughly.
Fill the cupcake liners three-quarters full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Remove cupcakes to wire rack and cool before frosting. (makes 24 cupcakes)

Mini cupcakes bake for 8-10 minutes.

Vanilla-Almond Buttercream Frosting

1 3/4 cup butter, room temp (softened)
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract ( clear)

Beat/whip butter until fluffy without lumps. Sift powdered sugar and gradually beat in to butter. Add vanilla and almond extracts, and continue whipping frosting until, well, until it’s very whipped… Fluffy. You know, like frosting….
*this recipe does not make a huge amount of frosting. You may wish to double it in order to frost all the cupcakes.

(A nice, simple but tasty Coffee flavored cake is not off of my to-bake list though.)