Thanks a Latte Mocha Cupcakes with Espresso Buttercream

 Today is Caregiver Appreciation Day.  Apparently this is a newish holiday that is celebrated on the Friday before Mother's Day to acknowledge those who help in the care of our children.  While I knew that this week was teacher appreciation week, I had no clue about this holiday until I got a letter sent home from my daughter's daycare school.  Luckily I was already planning on sending something today for Teacher Appreciation Week, so it all jived just fine.

So I started racking my brain for ideas of what to send those who do the most important job in the world: caring for my precious tiny little person when I cannot be there.  After talking with my sister, who is a teacher at a daycare center, I settled on: (1) no bath products [I would never have given those anyhow... I hate getting those as gifts and try to make it a point to never give them to others as a result] and (2) teachers like food.  I then came up with this:

 I made the card from a printable I found here.  I went to Starbucks and got myself a coffee and then took a few extra straws and sleeves to use.  One long straw can be cut down to decorate about 4 cupcakes, so for this recipe you would need about three straws.  The cake is a wonderfully rich and moist mocha cake, where the flavor of the coffee delightfully enhances the chocolate flavor.  The frosting is a homemade buttercream spiked with espresso to bring some more of that coffee goodness to these treats.  Drizzle on a little chocolate ganache and you have a cupcake that sort of looks like a frappucino!

I was not totally sure how these would come out, but I knew that I did well when all the teachers at the school were squealing at how cute the cupcakes are when I dropped them off this morning.  I am glad I could brighten their mornings just a little bit, considering all the help the give me and the hubby with our daughter!

Next time I will likely do a double batch since this recipe only makes a dozen cupcakes.  But this will definitely be made again!  It was simple and the results are very very impressive!

(I will have to update the blog on Monday with a new picture of the batch I am making for Scrunches' core teacher.  They have something extra to the cupcake decor to make them REALLY cute! Sadly I was not able to do it to all these cupcakes due to time...)

Mocha cupcakes 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee mixed into 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter*
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 light brown sugar
• 1 egg*

* set butter and egg out for 30 minutes to bring to room temperature.  Things will blend together much nicer if you do this.  If you forget, do not fret, but it will take a bit longer to get everything creamed together and smooth.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners. You may want to also very lightly grease the top of the pan to help with release of the "muffin top."

Mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

Cream together the butter and the granulated and brown sugars until light and fluffy on medium to high speed with a mixer.  Beat in the egg until the mixture is well combined and set aside.

Letting your butter and egg come to room temperature will give you a smoother version of this.  I did not have time for room temp for the cupcakes, sadly.

In a cup mix the water, instant coffee, milk and vanilla.

Possibly the dumbest picture I have ever taken for this site.  Well, dumbest after all the photos of the mixing bowls of flours mixtures... 

Alternate mixing in the flour mixture and coffee mixture to the butter, egg and sugar.  You should follow this pattern: flour, coffee, flour, coffee, flour.  Once everything is incorporated well, divide batter in the muffin pan and bake for 17-20, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of a cupcake.

Fight the urge to lick the spoon when you do this part.  Its really hard. How yummy does that batter look???

Allow to cool completely on a wire rack, then frost.

My cupcake tops stuck to the top of the pan a little.  I ran a offset spatula carefully around them before removing, but this can be avoided by extremely lightly greasing the top surface of the pan.

Espresso Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter at room temperature*
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar (use any type that is 10X)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee powder

*the butter for the frosting MUST be at room temperature.  If it is not you will cry about trying to get smooth silky frosting.  Just let it sit out for a bit.  DO NOT microwave it.  Then you wont have frosting. You will just have buttery sugar. (if you do not have butter, you can also substitute in butter flavored Crisco along with 2 tablespoons water... but who has Crisco and not butter??)

Ganache for decorating (optional- you can also use hershey's syrup, but it wont set up like the ganache will.  Another option is to use "Magic Shell" which you can find in the ice cream toppings aisle at your local grocery store)

• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Dissolve the instant coffee in the vanilla and set aside.

Whip the butter on high speed with a mixer for 5 minutes.  Stop to scrape the sides of the bowl occassionally with a rubber spatula.

Add powdered sugar in 1/2 cup increments and mix on low until well combined before adding the next 1/2 cup.

Once all the powdered sugar has been incorporated, scrape the sides of the bowl again with a rubber spatula.  Beat on medium to high speed until it is light and fluffy.  This stage is important to getting a very silky, light and smooth frosting.  DO NOT skimp in this!

Add in the coffee mixture and mix until the frosting comes together, scraping the bowl as necessary as you go along.

For ganache, microwave the heavy cream for 30 seconds.  Add chocolate chips to warmed cream and mix until the chips mix in to the cream and create a wonderfully fudgy topping.

Load pastry bag with 1M tip and frosting.  Pipe swirls of buttercream onto cupcakes.  Drizzle ganache onto frosting (best done when ganache is warm) and insert plastic straw into frosting.

Appreciate your hard work and enjoy the cupcakes!

Source: adapted from Brown Eyed Baker