Chocolate coffee cupcakes
Both Amber and I love the idea of hosting friends and family in our home. I say we love the “idea,” because so often we are either too busy to even think about it, or too tired to tie ourselves to the work that comes with having guests over. Of course, it doesn’t help that a lot of people we would like to invite don’t live in the same city as us. The evening we baked these chocolate coffee cupcakes was a pleasant reminder that one of the biggest obstacle in our hosting friends at home for a meal is often our desire to cook something spectacular when an occasion like this does present itself. That evening, when a couple of our friends called us to ask if they could come by, we had already cooked dinner and were in the process of baking these cupcakes for breakfast for the coming week. We simply thawed a big box of dal from the freezer and cooked more rice than we had intended. And there it was, dal, rice and palak paneer for dinner and these strongly coffee-flavoured, just-sweet cupcakes for dessert. It can be as easy as this, if only we would let it be that way.
Chocolate coffee cupcakes
Adapted by Roxana’s Home Baking
(makes about 15)
½ cup butter, room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup brewed coffee, cooled
1¾ all-purpose flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1. Line the cupcake pans with paper liners and pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after you add each.
3. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
4. Add a third of the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and eggs, followed by half the coffee, and continue adding them alternately. Mix until just combined.
5. Scoop the batter into the prepared cupcake pan and bake for about 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.
6. Leave the cupcakes to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before taking them out, and cooling them further on a wire rack.
