Mocha cupcakes with mocha buttercream

I was asked to bake for a coworkers retirement party last Thursday. It was the most cupcakes I've baked thus far, 125! I thought about flavors that cops would like and thought, 90% of them drink 8 cups of coffee in one shift (it's a long shift) so I thought, a coffee cupcake would be good for them. (I made 3 other flavors, chocolate, red velvet and a blue velvet-recipe coming up!) I looked in my trusty Martha Stewart Cupcakes book and found a recipe for mocha cupcakes. Perfect!! :)



This recipe makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients
-2 1/4 cups cake flour (not self rising), sifted
-2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
-1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
-1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
-2 large eggs, room temperature
-1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
-1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
-3/4 cup freshly brewed espresso
-1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. Whisk together cake flour and cocoa. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter until smooth and light. Add the brown sugar and eggs.


Beat until fluffy, scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla. baking soda and salt. Beat to combine thoroughly.



Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of sour cream, beating until just combined after each. Mix together brewed espresso and espresso powder; add to batter, and beat until smooth.

Divide batter evenly among line cups, filling each three quarters full.


Bake, rotating tuns halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 22 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.


I paired it with a mocha buttercream that I found on this website http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2010/08/13/mocha-cupcakes-with-espresso-buttercream-frosting/

Makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
-1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
-2½ cups powdered sugar
-1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
-1½ teaspoons espresso powder

Mix the espresso powder into the vanilla until dissolved; set aside.

Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping once to scrape the sides of the bowl. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the powdered sugar a little at a time, waiting until it is mostly incorporated before adding more. Once all of the powdered sugar has been added, scrape the sides of the bowl and increase the speed to medium-high and whip until fluffy, about a minute or two. Add the espresso and vanilla mixture and continue to mix at medium-high until it is completely incorporated, scraping the sides as necessary.


I use the Wilton 1M tip to frost the cupcakes for that swirl. Start from the outside edge of the cupcake with the bag perpendicular to the cupcake. Then frost from the outside in.



Enjoy! :)