27 days, 27 Cupcakes! Time for a coffee – make mine a cappuccino. A Cappuccino Cupcake that is.

Melbourne is a bit of a coffee town. Okay, that is a massive under exaggeration, as I have heard it said that Melburnians take their coffee more seriously than any other being on the face of the planet. Probably the truth is somewhere in the middle.

Anyway, a few weeks ago there was a blog doing the rounds about coffee cakes, and one that caught my eye was for a dark, dense looking espresso cake. Seemed to me that would translate really well into a cupcake. A slather of whipped white chocolate ganache on top, a sprinkle of ground coffee and a dusting of cocoa and we have a cappuccino in cupcake form. And they look super-chic.

The taste testers have been getting pretty excited about these ones.

Cappuccino Cupcakes

makes 12

Espresso Cupcakes

ingredients

120g unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp instant coffee granules
2/3 cup cool espresso (or very strong coffee)

mixing

Line a 12 hole muffin pan with cupcake cases, spray with non-stick spray.

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating until well combined. Beat in the sour cream and vanilla. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together and add to the mixture. Dissolve the instant coffee granules in the cool espresso and add to the mixture. Mix on low speed to combine, then beat on high speed until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

Spoon into the cupcake cases and bake at 175 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

Whipped White Chocolate Ganache

ingredients

190g good quality white chocolate (I used Callebaut), chopped
170mL 35% milkfat cream
pinch salt
pinch vanilla powder

1 tbsp ground coffee, for dusting
cocoa powder, for dusting

mixing

Heat the cream until almost boiling. Tip in all of the chocolate, stirring until smooth and all the chocolate has melted. Stir in the salt and vanilla. Chill until very cold.

Whip with an electric mixer for about one minute – until the mixture holds peaks. Just like cream, the mixture can over-whip quickly, so be careful!

Immediately load into a large piping bag fitted with a large ruffle tip and pipe onto the cupcakes, allowing about 30g of ganache per cupcake. Take care to keep your hands cool during this process as hot hands will turn the ganache still in the piping bag slightly soupy! Chill the cupcakes again after frosting.

To decorate,  hold the cupcakes at a 75 degree angle and dust with a little ground coffee and then the cocoa, so that one side of the ruffles catch the coffee and cocoa.

Enjoy!xxx