Martha Cupcake Challenge #16- Mocha cupcakes

In honor of National Chocolate Cupcake Day, I endeavored to make Martha's mocha cupcakes, since mocha = chocolate + coffee. I upped the amount of coffee in the cupcakes, using not only 3/4 cup of brewed espresso, but also a packet of Starbucks VIA Columbia roast instant coffee, and also A tablespoon of instant espresso powder. These don't have that much chocolate in them, only 2 tbsp, but it's enough to get that great mocha flavor.

Here they are fresh out of the oven, smelling soooo delicious! The recipe says it makes 24, but I only got 20. The batter was quite liquidy, and these cupcakes are moist and delicate. Chocolate has a tendency to be dryer than others, but these will not have that problem.

Now, on to the frosting. It's a 7 minute frosting, flavored with coffee. It calls for coffee extract, but I couldn't find that, so I just used the instant espresso powder to make a very strong 1/4 cup of coffee. I have made this frosting once before, for the coconut cupcakes (Cupcake Challenge #4). I ran into the same problems as last time. Although I did have a working candy thermometer, it seemed like the sugar mixture took a very long time to come up to temp. Also, I had to beat the frosting on high for 25-30 minutes, not on medium for 7 minutes, to get the glossy peaks I needed. I did some searching on the internet and found lots of other recipes that use a double boiler. I may try that next time, this is too time consuming.

This is how much frosting I had left over. Could have used another dozen cupcakes! And unfortunately, you can't save this for later, it must be used immediately, so it was either eat all that frosting myself or throw it out. (I threw it out)
So, cupcakes A+, frosting C. I am also going to submit this recipe on Starbucks.com, since they are having a contest to use the new VIA coffee. Since I don't drink coffee, this is how I use it.

Cupcake Challenge #9- Tiramisu cupcakes

Tiramisu cupcakes: vanilla sponge cake soaked in coffee syrup, topped with mascarpone frosting, sprinkled with cocoa powder. Deee-lish! I have made tiramisu cupcakes before, but I just used my regular vanilla cupcakes and topped them with mascarpone frosting. These are a little more involved. First of all, the cake itself is a sponge cake, very very light and airy. And this recipe called for infusing a vanilla bean in warm milk before adding it to the batter, which leaves little specks of vanilla in the baked cupcakes.

Here they are right out of the oven:

Then, I made a coffee syrup. The recipe called for adding marsala wine too, but I omitted that, mostly because I'd have to buy a whole bottle for only 1/4 cup worth. If I were making more than one batch of these, I'd do it, but not for just one use. The cupcakes were brushed with the coffee syrup multiple times. The recipe says to use 1/3 cup coffee and let it absorb into the cupcakes. I used maybe half of that, and they were soaked through.

Here are the cupcakes after brushing them with the coffee syrup:

They look a little messy and soggy, but they smelled wonderful! The mascarpone frosting was next, which was simply whipped cream folded into the cheese with a little bit of sugar. I also added a drop of vanilla, because it makes all frostings taste better :) I dolloped the frosting on top of the soaked cupcakes.

Here they are, so fluffy and mouth-watering!

The final step was to sprinkle cocoa powder on top, just like real tiramisu. These must be eaten the same day, because the coffee syrup makes the cupcakes too soggy to keep overnight. I like that the cake and frosting are both light and airy, it makes you feel not as bad when eating them! Although this recipe was a lotmore work than my own, I think it's better, and would definitely use it in the future.
Next up: Banana-Pecan cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream. Tasty!