Week 22 - Cafe au Lait Cupcakes

Good news! I didn't drown myself surfing so I'm back to bake another week! I had a great time in Cornwall, I can really see how people get the surfing bug. Lets face it, I was fairly pants, but I did manage to catch a few waves & although I didn't actually get on my feet, I managed to get about half way up which was far better than I expected. It sounds ridiculous but the most challenging part of the weekend was getting into the wetsuit. It wasn't easy, especially on the 2nd day when I felt muscles I didn't even know I had, aching in my arms! Thank you to Oakley for a fab prize & to the guys at Big Friday for organising a great weekend.

Back to the cakes & this weeks recipe is another request. In a shameless plug for the brand I work for, I made this using Douwe Egberts Pure Indulgence coffee (I'm a slave to the brand I know!) I find you need to use quite a strong coffee to make sure it gives a rich enough flavour to the cake. I came across a recipe for an American Frosting in a Good Housekeeping cookbook from the 70's, so I thought I'd have a crack at that instead of traditional butter cream for the topping. It's given them a lovely glossy finish, but if I'm honest I think I prefer butter cream, the frosting tastes nice, but it's got a different texture, but different is good sometimes, right?

For the cupcakes
125g butter
150g caster sugar
2 eggs
Few drops vanilla essence
125ml milk
4 tsps instant coffee dissolved in a little water
200g plain flour
2 tsps baking powder

For the frosting
175g brown sugar
1 egg white
Pinch of salt
Pinch of cream of tartar
30ml water

1. Cream together the butter & sugar, beat in the eggs then add the rest of the liquids & beat well until light & fluffy. Sift in the flour & baking powder & fold together. Line a 12 hole bun tin with paper cases & divide the mixture evenly between them. Bake in the oven at 180c/GM5 for 20 minutes, leave to rest for 5 minutes in the tin, then lift out onto a rack to cool.

2. To make the frosting, put all the ingredients into a bowl & whisk until combined. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water & continue to whisk until it thickens & the mixture forms soft peaks. Now I started with an egg whisk, but realised I was getting nowhere fast! (Especially with achy surfy arms!) So I switched to my electric whisk & it thickened in no time.

3. Leave the frosting to cool for a few minutes so it's not quite as runny, then coat the top of each cupcake. I finished them off with a white chocolate coated coffee bean!

I called these Cafe au Lait as the milk in the recipe gives it that lovely creamy taste. The brown sugar in the frosting gives a complimentary caramel flavour. If I was to make them again, I'd make a vanilla butter cream instead. I guess you could also turn them into Mocha Cupcakes by adding around 75g of cocoa powder to the cake mix...mmm, might just try that!

So I've taken on blogging, marathon walking & surfing so far this year...I need to give some thought to my next challenge. Have a good week, enjoy the sunshine, Rebecca x