{Espresso & Chocolate Cupcakes}

I'm not very good at piping icing, I think it always looks a bit like something dogs do at the park, especially with this glossy chocolate icing, however its the thought that counts as the saying goes and I whipped these up with our neighbour in mind. We often meet at the letterbox for a chat, she is most often walking home with a coffee in her hand, I am negotiating with the wee peas whose turn it is to get the mail. She loves coffee and is not well at the moment, she told me her doctor said she needs to put on weight for her treatment and well, that's something I can help with. Get well soon M. x

The recipe is from over at m.e, do you know she bakes all kinds of delicious cakes and never eats a bite of them, clearly we were separated at birth. Not. This recipe makes 16 cupcakes, 1 is left and its been less than 24hours, say no more.

...espresso cupcakes
115g butter, room temperature

115g raw sugar

115g brown sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

125g self raising flour, sifted

125 plain flour, sifted

125ml milk, room temperature

splash of vanilla

1/4 cup of brewed strong espresso

...chocolate butter cream

150g butter, room temperature

120g icing sugar

60ml milk, room temperature

60g cocoa

3 tbsp of golden syrup

Preheat oven to 180 or 160 fan forced, line cupcake trays with papers. Cream the butter and sugars until mixture is pale and fluffy, add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, sift flours together in a separate bowl, add espresso and vanilla to milk and add then add flour to butter mixture in 3 batches alternating with the milk and ending with flour until all added and mixed well. Spoon into cupcake papers and bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden, test with a skewer, it should come out clean. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the butter cream just pop all the ingredients into your mixer bowl and mix until light and fluffy, add more icing sugar if needed (I added an extra 2 tbsp to get the consistency I wanted).