espresso cupcakes

This recipe originally came from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess. I've changed the recipe a little, and used a different icing, but they are still delicious. Because this came from a British recipe book, most things are measured in grams, but you can find the conversions here. I used good-quality chocolate bars, not baking chocolate, although you could probably use semi-sweet baking chocolate. This will make 12 medium cupcakes, or about 20 mini ones.

Espresso Cupcakes

Ingredients
125g softened unsalted butter
125g dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
125g all-purpose flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
75g dark chocolate with ground coffee beans, melted (or plain dark chocolate plus 1 tbsp instant espresso powder or finely ground espresso beans)
2-3 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 200 C (400 F). Line cupcake tins with paper liners, or butter and flour them.
Blend butter and sugar well, then add eggs and blend until smooth. Add flour, cocoa, baking powder (and espresso powder or ground coffee, if using). Stir in dry ingredients a bit, then blend until smooth. Add chocolate and 2 tbsp milk, blending well. Add 1 more tbsp milk if batter seems too thick.
Fill tins about half to 2/3 full. Bake for 12-15 min - toothpick inserted in middle should come out clean.

Chocolate Icing

Ingredients
100g dark chocolate
100ml whipping cream

Put cream in a small saucepan, heat until almost boiling (but don't boil). Add chocolate in small pieces, stirring until it's all melted. Remove from heat and whisk until smooth. Let cool until thick enough to spread.










Thanks to Amanda and Allison for taking photos of our fun, and listening as I talked way too much about knitting. Taylor was a hoot, as usual, and it's been too long since we all hung out together. I hope Sara gets better soon, and enjoys her cupcakes. Also, thanks to Minou for keeping me warm during my sleep-over. She may be a little crazy, and eat yarn, but she's a cute kitty.