Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes with Espresso Buttercream Frosting

I am not very pleased with the pictures that I have taken for today’s post. The decoration was not perfect as I made them in hurry for a party in my friend’s house. It could have been done much better. But since I won’t make them again anytime soon, thought of posting it anyway in the blog. Hope you would still like it.

 I know some of you may avoid cupcakes for its high calories, but I would suggest trying this out in moderate quantity. You will love it for sure. For me, who loves cupcakes and smell of coffee, would be very hard to resist from having it. Today I will share the recipe of Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes with Espresso Buttercream Frosting. You can call it the recipe of popular Starbucks beverage in the form of cupcakes.

 I love to make cupcakes because they always come out beautiful just like a piece of artwork. You can decorate as your heart wants and make them adorable, pretty and delicious. Though this time I knew I won’t get enough time for decorating it, still it was in my mind since I had a delicious mocha cupcake at a local cupcake shop a couple of months ago and decided to whip up my own version. The base cake is a rich coffee infused chocolate cake and is topped off with a creamy, sweet espresso butter cream. As they were not decadent enough, I had to finish them off with a sprinkle of chocolate dust. Obviously this cake has two delicious flavors, chocolate and espresso, heavenly combination for them who love chocolate and coffee both!  And what we can say about buttercream frosting which is always smooth, melt in mouth texture and dreamy in every sense. It makes the overall taste sinful, decadent and irresistible. The making of these cupcakes are as simple as making the same with any box-mix. Just few minutes of effort but totally worth it.

Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes with Espresso ButterCream Frosting : 12 cupcakes

Ingredients :

For Mocha cupcakes :

All-purpose flour : 11/2 cups
Unsweetened Cocoa powder : 1/3 cup
Baking Soda : 1/2 teaspoon 
Baking powder : 1/2 teaspoon 
Salt : 1/4 teaspoon
Sugar : 1 cup 
Oil : 1/4 cup
Eggs : 2 
Vanilla extract : 1 tsp 
Coffee Powder : 2 tablespoons instant coffee powder 
water : 3/4 cup

For Espresso Buttercream Frosting :

Unsalted Butter ( at room temperature ) : 2 sticks or 1 cup
Powdered sugar : 13/4 cups
Pure vanilla extract : 11/2 teaspoons
Instant Espresso coffee powder : 2 teaspoons

Method : 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F or 180 degrees C. Line a standard-size muffin tin with paper liners. 

2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt together and set it aside.

3. Take a large mixing bowl, add oil and sugar to it and whisk it. Add eggs and vanilla extract and coffee powder and mix well until they are well combined. 

4. Add the flour-cocoa mixture in 3 additions and alternately add water. Mix it well and scrape down the sides if needed. 

5. Divide the batter evenly into the prepared muffin tin.

6. Bake for 17 to 20 minutes or or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of a cupcake, comes out clean.

7. Let them cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

To make Frosting : 

8. Whip the butter on a medium-high speed for 5 minutes. (You can use a stand mixer or electric hand-mixer.) Scrape the sides of the bowl. 

9. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time and mix it well on low speed. Wait till sugar is mostly incorporated before adding more. Once the sugar has been added, increase the speed to medium-high and mix it well for 1 to 2 minutes, until it becomes fluffy. 

10. Add vanilla extract and coffee powder and mix it until it becomes well-combined and smooth. 

11. Frost the cupcakes with butter Knife or pipe the cupcakes with espresso buttercream frosting. Sprinkle some chocolate dust. 

Related Recipes :

• Red Velvet cupcakes
• 
  
• Chocolate Ganache Cake
• 
  
• Black Forest Cake

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Double Chocolate Banana Bread

Do you love chocolate and moist cake? Do you already have some ripe bananas on your kitchen counter top? If the answers are yes, then this recipe is for you! Today I'm going to share the recipe of Double Chocolate banana bread. Chocolate Banana Bread combines the sweet flavor of ripe bananas with chocolate. Generally Banana Bread is our favorite snacks with tea/coffee, though we are not against for breakfast either. Off late I started baking the banana bread or regularly and always got excellent result. Most of the time I bake the regular banana bread, the one I already shared in this blog, ( click here for the recipe of regular Banana Bread )but for a change I tried other versions too. It was a fun to change the regular banana bread recipe. Earlier I used to add coffee flavor or some chocolate chips but never thought of adding unsweetened cocoa powder to it. This is the first time I added the same and it was awesome.

Double Chocolate Banana bread is cake-like bread with rich chocolate flavor, yet retains the sweetness and moistness that makes the banana bread popular. I had a New Year resolution this year that won’t make any sweet dish or dessert for the first month (just trying my best to keep the weight under control. I kept my promise and neither had I made it nor did I have bite at them even in weekend parties!! Since the first month is towards the end, now I can make my first sweet dish of the year. To make Banana bread, you need fully ripe bananas that means their skin color would turn into brown and its flesh would become very soft. At this stage, many people throw these bananas in the garbage, without realizing how delicious they would be when they are baked with bread. Every week I buy banana for my kid’s breakfast but a few of them will turn brown before we finish them. Instead of throwing them, I put them in a plastic bag and keep it into the refrigerator. Then wait until I have enough for baking.

This recipe is very easy one and takes hardly 10 to 15 minutes to prepare before baking. You can serve it as breakfast with a glass of milk or as a snack or dessert with a scoop of icecream!

Recipe of Double Chocolate Banana Bread : ( for one loaf ) 

Ingredients :

Vegetable oil : 1/2 cup

White sugar : 1 cup

Eggs : 2 

Ripe bananas ( mashed ) : 3 medium sized 

All purpose flour : 1 cup and 3/4 cup

Baking powder : 1/2 teaspoon 

Baking soda : 1 teaspoon 

salt : 1/2 teaspoon 

Unsweetened Cocoa powder : 1/2 cup

Milk : 1/4 cup 

Chocolate chips / chocolate chinks : 1/2 cup

Chopped toasted pecan or walnut : 1/2 cup ( optional ) 

Method :

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F or 177 degrees C and lightly grease a 9- by 5- by 3- inch loaf pan and set it aside.

2. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa and salt into a medium bowl and keep it aside.

3. Cream the oil and sugar in a stand mixer with a paddle or with a hand mixer add eggs one by one and beat until it becomes light and fluffy. Add the mashed bananas and mix well. 

4. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, mix in with a rubber spatula, until incorporated and alternately add the milk.  Mix them together nicely.

5. Fold in chocolate chips and pecans. 

6. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes to an hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center of loaf comes out clean. 

7. Let it cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Take it out of the pan when it is completely cool. Banana Bread is best if it is served the next day! serve it as breakfast with a glass of milk or as a snack or dessert with a scoop of ice cream! Enjoy!

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