espresso cupcakes

With my tea and milk cakes going swimmingly I thought I would tackle something were all a bit more familiar with. I like coffee cake as much as the next person but if I'm honest I can't eat a great big cakey wodge of it. So a cupcake is the perfect portion for me, plus I got to use my amazing tea cup and saucer moulds again. If I'm going to do a coffee cake, I want full on punchy flavour, hence my use of espresso. I used my batter from the Tea&Milk cupcakes and adapted it a little. Since it had produced such a wonderful batter I thought it gave me a little licence to play with it and see what else I could get for my moneys worth. 

For the cupcakes:

• 200ml whole milk
• 20g instant espresso powder
• 80g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 280g caster sugar
• 240g plain flour
• 3 tbsp creme fraiche
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 large, free range or organic eggs
• 2 tsp good quality almond extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

for the frosting:

• 50ml whole milk
• 15g instant espresso powder
• 500g of icing sugar
• 160g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 chocolate covered espresso beans per cupcake

1. warm the oven to 190'c and line the muffin tin with cases and set them aside
2. warm the milk, I do this gently in a microwave at half power. it takes around 2 1/2 minutes in mine but check every 30 seconds or so. you want it hot, but not boiling. when the milks warm, dissolve the espresso powder into it. put this to one side to allow to cool
3. cream together your butter and sugar to a nice and fluffy consistency
4. in another bowl, combine all your dry ingredients, the flour, baking powder and salt by sifting them twice and then set them aside
5. into your now cooled milk, whisk your eggs, vanilla and almond extracts
6. in stages combine your milk mixture and your dry flour mixture into the butter. do each a third at a time, it gives you the best combined mixture and avoids and splitting butter/eggs situation
7. when your batter is fully combined, add the creme fraiche and give it another stir
8. fill your cases around 2/3 rds of the way up and stick it in the oven for 18-22 minutes depending on your oven and remove when cooked. leave them in the pan for 5 minutes to cool slightly before moving to a wire rack to cool thoroughly
9. to make the frosting, as you did before, warm the milk and add the espresso powder and vanilla extract to it. make sure that the milk is cold before you add it to the butter or you will just end up with a sloppy mess- no frosting = sadface...
10. cream the butter until very light and very fluffy then add the icing sugar and milky espresso a little at a time to create a smooth and creamy frosting
11. when the cakes are fully cooled, ice them and decorate the tops with a few chocolate covered espresso beans 

xoxox