cupcake project | 3: chocolate coffee cupcakes with coffee buttercream

This shouldn’t really be part of the cupcake project series, but since a friend ordered a box, I might as well post about them.

They’re not new to this blog, I made my first batch some months ago and there weren’t any adjustments made. The only new thing with these cupcakes would be the frosting! Yes, I’ve been on a frosting craze lately, ever since I made the cupcakes giveaway for Eoshie’s christening.

Anyhoo, here’s the cupcake recipe:

Chocolate-Coffee Cupcake
Adapted from Ming Makes Cupcakes 

1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup buttermilk (substituted it with 1/4 cup low-fat milk with 1/4 tbsp lemon juice)
3 heaping tbsp Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 tbsp coffee powder
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt1/2
1 egg
1/2 tsp coffee extract

Prepare cupcakes:

Line muffin pan with cupcake liners. Preheat oven to 350F.

Dissolve baking soda with buttermilk. Set aside.

In a sauce pan, melt butter together with cocoa powder and coffee on low fire. When smooth, add water. Stir to combine until smooth. Set aside.

In another bowl, sift together flour, sugar and salt. Add cocoa mixture and egg and mix at low speed (if using a mixer) or a wooden spoon. Add buttermilk mixture and coffee extract. Beat until smooth.

Pour/scoop batter into muffin tins. The batter is quite thin, you may want to pour it using a measuring cup, I did.

Bake at 350F for 20 minutes or until toothpick tester comes out clean.

Cool cupcakes in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Today, I made coffee buttercream frosting. I just adapted the same recipe I used last time --

Coffee Buttercream FrostingAdapted from Bake Happy / Wilton 

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tsps coffee extract
1 tbsp coffee powder
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
milk, as needed 

Cream butter and shortening together until light and fluffy. Add in coffee extract and coffee powder, and beat until combined. Gradually add powdered sugar, preferably in 1/4 or 1/2 cup increments. Beat until incorporated. Add in milk, 1 tbsp at a time, until desired consistency is achieved.

Needless to say, the reason I’ve been fussing too much about cupcakes is I want to get better at cupcake making. It’s true what they say that while taste is superior in anything we make in the kitchen, presentation should not always be secondary. They should go hand in hand, no matter how delectable a dish is, if it doesn’t look appealing, it may not pass the kitchen test.

So this cupcake project series should be a documentation on my journey towards great-looking and great-tasting cupcakes.

AJA!