Cupcake hero does Coffee

I don’t actually like coffee, so thinking up an idea for a coffee inspired cupcake for the January cupcake hero challenge wasn’t all that easy. I had wanted to make a cupcake with a filling for the challenge, but two things counted against me:

1. I wouldn’t be able to eat the filling if it was coffee flavoured!
2. I really wanted to make them last night and I couldn’t be bothered going to the shop to get the bits I might need to make a filling (ie cream)

So, my cupcake is kind of boring – well, simple at least. It is an espresso flavoured cupcake that I added toasted hazelnuts to, then I made a an espresso syrup, drizzled the cakes with the syrup and then iced them with an espresso butter cream icing. I based the cake on a Julie le Clerc recipe from her Little Cafe Cakes book. I did taste the cakes, even though coffee isn’t my favourite flavour and they were really yummy. Quite a moist cake and the syrup made them even more so. The crunch of the hazelnuts gave a great textural difference. I almost topped the cakes with a hazelnut, but the hazelnut looked a bit insignificant compared to the size of the icing. I think the plain icing looks nice. Sometimes less is more!

One thing I love about the blog challenges is that it does get me out of my comfort zone. I wouldn’t normally make coffee flavoured cupcakes, and it is a lot of fun creating new ideas!



Espresso Drizzle Cupcakes (cake recipe adapted from Julie Le Clerc’s Little Café cakes)

250g softened butter
1 ¼ c sugar
3 lg eggs
½ c espresso coffee
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp ground coffee beans
2 ¼ c flour
1 tsp baking powder
¾ c hazelnuts, lightly toasted and chopped

· Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs, one at a time.
· Beat in vanilla, coffee and ground coffee beans
· Fold in four, baking powder and hazelnuts
· Spoon into cupcake cases (makes about 16) and bake at 170c for about 20 minutes
· When cold drizzle with the following hot syrup

Syrup

· Heat together ¾ c strong coffee, ½ tsp ground coffee beans, 1/3 c sugar until sugar is dissolved and then simmer until syrupy

Icing

· Cream 150g butter, then add 1/3 c milk and 1 tbsp ground coffee beans dissolved in boiling water
· Beat in enough icing sugar (about 5c) to get a good icing consistency

When cakes are cold, ice with the icing.