CBC 19 - National Cupcake Week

In order to help celebrate National Cupcake Week I headed to the bookshelf and found this recipe for Choca Mocha Cupcakes in Susannah Blake's 'Cupcake Heaven'.  Owing to the fact that I've actually done an ok-ish job at eating healthily this week and that Hubby and I are off to a friends wedding next week, which in turn means I need to fit into a dress for the event (!!!!) I opted to make cupcakes that I knew I wouldn't touch.  Coffee is not a flavour I enjoy to either drink or eat but oddly enough I love the smell of it being ground and brewed.  Wierdness is clearly my forte!

So taste testing duties for these guys was left to Hubby and the crew from work.  Hubby liked the subtle flavour of the coffee in the cupcake itself but found the flavour in the buttercream a bit on the strong side, although it is fair to note that he likes his coffee on the milky side.  The guys at work, however, loved them! I pretty much had to pull teeth to draw some feedback from them that wasn't positive.  Even then it was only to say that the cupcake was a bit on the dry side - which I did wonder about while making the batter.  It seemed quite thick and 'gloppy' and once they were baked they seemed quite dry on the outside.  Not inedible though so I think next time I'll add a dash of milk or maybe cut back on the cocoa, I always think that baking with cocoa tends to add to a drier finished product.

Choca-Mocha Cupcakes
100g dark chocolate, chopped
150g unsalted butter, at room temp
150g caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp cocoa powder
100g SR flour
2 tsp instant coffee, dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water
40g chocolate covered coffee beans (I omitted these as I didn't have any to hand)
Icing
100g unsalted butter, at room temp
200g icing sugar, sifted
2 tsp instant coffee, dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water
Grated chocolate or chocolate sprinkles, to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180C.  Line a 12 hole cupcake tin with paper cases.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water.  Do not let the bowl touch the water.  Leave until almost melted, then set aside to cool slightly.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Stir in the melted chocolate and cocoa powder.  Sift the flour into the mixture and stir in, then stir in the coffee, followed by the coffee beans.

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 mins until risen and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To decorate, beat the butter, sugar and coffee together in a bowl until pale and fluffy.  Spread the mixture smoothly over the cakes and sprinkle with grated chocolate or sprinkles.

Makes 12

I found the icing recipe didn't go quite as far as I would have liked it to for the piping style I had in mind, hence the kind of messy topping.  Hopefully it still looks a bit cappuccino like in appearance though?  Next time I'd make more of the icing and decorate to my hearts content ;0)