Taste: ***1/2 | Presentation: ****
Cupcake:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tablespoon instant ground coffee
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Preheat over to 350 degrees (I used a gas oven). Spray muffin pans w/ canola oil.
In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar w/ mixer until smooth. Add egg, milk, vanilla and ground coffee and mix. (I was a little nervous at this point because the butter/sugar mixture wasn't combining with the wet ingredients very well, floating in chunks on the top but I proceeded anyway.)
In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and spices together. Add the dry to the wet in small batches, mixing enough to combine (the batter started looking normal now). Fold in the chocolate chips. (I ended up with a nearly pudding consistency at this point.)
Spoon batter into greased muffin pans and bake (20 minutes for regular cupcake size and 13 for minis). I ended up with 12 regular size cupcakes and 10 minis.
Frosting:
1/2 cup butter (1stick)
2-8oz packages of cream cheese
1 1/4 cup icing/confectioner/powder sugar
2 tsp cocoa
1/8 cup brewed coffee
1/8 cup espresso vodka
In a medium bowl cream butter and cream cheese together. Add 1 cup of sugar, vanilla, cocoa, coffee and vodka and mix. Add the other 1/4 cup of sugar and mix.
I used a ziploc bag containing the frosting to frost the cupcakes and topped each one with a chocolate covered coffee bean.
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tablespoon instant ground coffee
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Preheat over to 350 degrees (I used a gas oven). Spray muffin pans w/ canola oil.
In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar w/ mixer until smooth. Add egg, milk, vanilla and ground coffee and mix. (I was a little nervous at this point because the butter/sugar mixture wasn't combining with the wet ingredients very well, floating in chunks on the top but I proceeded anyway.)
In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and spices together. Add the dry to the wet in small batches, mixing enough to combine (the batter started looking normal now). Fold in the chocolate chips. (I ended up with a nearly pudding consistency at this point.)
Spoon batter into greased muffin pans and bake (20 minutes for regular cupcake size and 13 for minis). I ended up with 12 regular size cupcakes and 10 minis.
Frosting:
1/2 cup butter (1stick)
2-8oz packages of cream cheese
1 1/4 cup icing/confectioner/powder sugar
2 tsp cocoa
1/8 cup brewed coffee
1/8 cup espresso vodka
In a medium bowl cream butter and cream cheese together. Add 1 cup of sugar, vanilla, cocoa, coffee and vodka and mix. Add the other 1/4 cup of sugar and mix.
I used a ziploc bag containing the frosting to frost the cupcakes and topped each one with a chocolate covered coffee bean.
The Panel:
The overall consensus was that the cupcake was delicious, though ironically lacking the coffee flavour I named it for. The cream cheese frosting had a great consistency and provided a nice sour touch to the sweetness of the cupcake. Comments were made that the mini chips perfectly distributed the chocolate flavour and added a nice crunch. The chocolate covered coffee bean was generally appreciated. There were mixed reviews as far as moistness and dryness were concerned. Great presentation.
My comments:
Initially I thought maybe there were too many chocolate chips and that the recipe should call for 1/2 cup instead of 3/4. I experimented with adding instant coffee ground to the frosting but found the coffee flavour to be quite strong so I decided against it but now I know that I should have went through with the idea and plan on sprinkling instant coffee grounds over the frosting in the future, adding to the presentation aswell. As far as the mixed reviews concerning moistness and dryness, I had a discussion with Fathom's Chef who suggested that this could be a result of baking with a 12 cake pan, that the middle cakes would bake at a different rate and the use of 2 six cake pans was recommended. This is an issue I plan to keep in mind for future batches.
The overall consensus was that the cupcake was delicious, though ironically lacking the coffee flavour I named it for. The cream cheese frosting had a great consistency and provided a nice sour touch to the sweetness of the cupcake. Comments were made that the mini chips perfectly distributed the chocolate flavour and added a nice crunch. The chocolate covered coffee bean was generally appreciated. There were mixed reviews as far as moistness and dryness were concerned. Great presentation.
My comments:
Initially I thought maybe there were too many chocolate chips and that the recipe should call for 1/2 cup instead of 3/4. I experimented with adding instant coffee ground to the frosting but found the coffee flavour to be quite strong so I decided against it but now I know that I should have went through with the idea and plan on sprinkling instant coffee grounds over the frosting in the future, adding to the presentation aswell. As far as the mixed reviews concerning moistness and dryness, I had a discussion with Fathom's Chef who suggested that this could be a result of baking with a 12 cake pan, that the middle cakes would bake at a different rate and the use of 2 six cake pans was recommended. This is an issue I plan to keep in mind for future batches.