Mocha Cupcakes :-)

When Nicole introduced me to How To Eat A Cupcake, I immediately knew I wanted to try these mocha cupcakes. I have a special fondness for (perhaps even an addiction to) , coffee and anything coffee-related. Not to mention the additional bonus of dark chocolate. Well, I finally got the opportunity to bake them this week when it was Ingrid's birthday, and we had colloquium (i.e., plenty of people to eat cupcakes).

I actually have to digress for a moment because my attempt at something for Ingrid's birthday was rather interesting. Her b-day was actually a few days before colloquium, and I had wanted to make her cupcakes for that day. However, a rather awful kitchen disaster occurred. This is unusual for me. Maybe I've just been lucky in that every cooking or baking endeavor I've attempted has turned out well or at least ok. (I once made guacamole that turned out horrible because I didn't know the difference between ripe and over-ripe avocados, but that's about it). Anyway, I didn't have the time or ingredients to do the mocha cupcakes then, so I tried a shortcut with a mix. I happened to have angel food cake, which I thought would be nice, light, and good for springtime. I couldn't have been more wrong. I followed Betty Crocker's instructions perfectly. In fact, the only thing I really had to do was add water! And I adhered to the specific cupcake instructions to cook for 30 minutes at 375. That seemed rather long, so I figured I'd set my timer for 20 min. and check on them then. After about 15, Adrian came into the kitchen and asked what was burning. What!? I thought he was teasing me, but alas, it was true. After just 15 minutes the cupcakes were destroyed and completely unsalvageable (believe me, I tried them and they were disgusting). Moral of the story: Don't trust Betty Crocker.

Luckily I made up for my mistake with the mocha cupcakes. I think these were one of the best desserts I've made recently. The original recipe comes from the book, Cupcakes by Shelly Kaldunski, but I followed the additional recommendations regarding the cocoa powder suggested by How To Eat A Cupcake. I also made double the batter, which yielded 24 cupcakes plus a little extra. I used the leftover batter to fill 3 ramekins for Adrian and I to taste. BTW, it was delicious when still warm out of the oven.

Overall, these turned out great! The cupcake was very chocolatey and rich. However, the coffee flavor didn't come out as much as I would have liked. I didn't want to overwhelm my audience, but next time I would definitely brew the coffee so that it was a bit stronger. The coffee swiss meringue buttercream was amazing! This is where the coffee flavor really came out, and the texture of it was awesome. It was a perfect complement to the rich cake. I would definitely recommend trying this recipe and would definitely make it again :-)