These Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes are one bowl wonders, spiked with a rich shot of espresso, a touch of chocolate and topped with the tang of cream cheese frosting, they’re ideal for mid-morning coffee breaks!
Wake up with coffee!
Hands up if you’re like me and can’t get through the day without coffee? Aha, good so I’m not the only one.
Coffee is one of my favourite parts of the morning routine. There’s nothing more calm and peaceful than arriving in the office before the masses, popping on a pot of coffee and making my breakfast, whilst that smooth aroma fills the air.
You know the one?
The one that comes with freshly brewed coffee, not the freeze-dried instant stuff out of a jar.
Add cake to your coffee time
How about cake? Coffee and cake go hand in hand, and as you might have already guessed by now, I’m a little partial to a baked delight, especially my coffee tray bake cake!
So what if I told you that you can have both together, and that coffee shop brew won’t look the same again, tempted? Then these chocolate mocha cupcakes are bound to impress, oh yes!
And the best bit, they really are quite simple to make and with just one bowl, you can have them in the oven in 15 minutes with minimal mess and washing up.
Now before you throw your hands up and say coffee’s not for you, hear me out.
We’re not talking about an in-your-face whack of coffee but more a smooth and subtle sweetness, that might take you a little by surprise.
I’ll promise you that even if you’re not the world’s biggest coffee fan, the combination of freshly brewed coffee with a hit of chocolate could change your mind!
Bring on the frosting
Right then, so let’s take a moment… you’ve got a batch of these beauties in the oven, what’s next? Frosting!
When I’ve made these chocolate mocha cupcakes before, I’ve topped them off with a coffee buttercream frosting. Coffee on coffee, with the chocolate in the cake balancing out the caffeine hit.
And if you’d prefer a stronger coffee cake, there’s nothing stopping you from doing the same. But with these ones, we’ve got a double frosting going on.
I couldn’t resist the richness of a chocolate buttercream cut through with a tangy of a cream cheese frosting to get that creamy, sweet but slightly bitter taste of your local coffee shop chocolate mocha.
Finish off with a dusting of cocoa powder and chocolate coffee beans and you’re sorted. What do you think?
Why are these chocolate mocha cupcakes the best?
I can guarantee that if you whipped a tray of these chocolate mocha cupcakes at coffee time, they’d be inhaled in no time at all.
The real beauty with these is that although the chocolate is the main flavour, it is the coffee that steals the show.
The smoothness of the fresh espresso and the slight bite of the cream cheese mellows out the richness of the chocolate, harmonising all the ingredients together into one stunning cupcake.
Tips for picture-perfect cupcakes every time
So, are you tempted to swap your skinny coffee-choco-frappo-latte-grande for one of these chocolate mocha cupcakes and bury yourself nose deep in those buttercream frostings? Then check out how I get each cupcake the same, every time…
- Don’t faff with spoons and trying to get the same amount in each cupcake case, instead use an ice cream scoop for just the right amount of cake batter every time
- Bake your cupcakes in a deep muffin tin rather than a shallow fairy cake tin, and your cupcakes will rise nice and high rather than spread out
- Use a large round nozzle to get smooth buttercream – you can swirl or just hold over the cupcake and squeeze to flood the top of the cake
Recommended ingredients
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If you’ve been inspired and are on the hunt for different flavours, go ahead and give these guys a click…
Pin chocolate mocha cupcakes
Last but not least, if you do give these chocolate mocha cupcakes a try give me a shout out in the comments below and don’t forget to pop a star rating in there too!
Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- 250 g Butter Unsalted
- 250 g Light Soft Brown Sugar
- 4 Eggs Medium
- 50 ml Espresso Coffee Cooled
- 250 g Self-Raising Flour or Cake Flour
- 50 g Cocoa Powder
- ½ tsp Baking Powder or Baking Soda
For the chocolate frosting
- 100 g 70% Dark Chocolate
- 200 g Butter Unsalted
- 400 g Icing Sugar or Powdered Sugar
For the cream cheese frosting
- 100 g Cream Cheese Full Fat
- 50 g Butter Unsalted
- 300 g Icing Sugar or Powdered Sugar
Instructions
- To make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 180C and line a deep muffin tray with 12 cupcake cases.
- Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until softened. Alternatively, you can make the cake batter, in a large mixing bowl, by hand or with an electric hand whisk.
- Add the muscovado sugar to the softened butter and cream until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, to the creamed mixture. Beat well between adding each egg.
- Add the cooled espresso coffee, and mix until well combined.
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together, and add to the mixture. Gently mix together until the cake batter is soft and smooth.
- Use an ice cream scoop to divide the batter between the cupcake cases, approximately 1 scoop per case.
- Bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
- To make the chocolate frosting: Add the chocolate to a small heatproof bowl, place over a saucepan of simmering water. Make sure that the bowl does not touch the water. Heat until all the chocolate has melted. Alternatively, melt in the microwave. Set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter until soft. Add half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth. Add the remaining icing sugar and cooled chocolate. Beat until smooth.
- To make the cream cheese frosting: In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter until soft. Add half of the icing sugar and cream cheese. Beat until smooth.
- Add the remaining icing sugar and cream cheese. Beat until smooth. Be careful not to overbeat the frosting as the cream cheese will slacken and maybe runny when piping.
- To decorate: Fill a two piping bags fitted with round nozzles with the frostings.
- Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes with the chocolate frosting first, and then the cream cheese frosting; and decorate!
Nutrition
DISCLAIMER
The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using online tools. Information can vary depending on various factors, but we have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible.
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Hi I’m Lou
… Dessert obsessed baker, busy 9-to-5er, and the recipe developer and photographer behind Crumbs and Corkscrews. Based in the UK, I live in the beautiful Cotswolds. I’m so glad to have you here with me and I can’t wait for you to start trying some of my recipes.
These look lovely, but I’m confused about the addition of 1/2 t baking powder OR 1/2 t baking soda. I thought these did different things to baked goods and really weren’t interchangeable.
Hi Peggie – both baking powder and baking soda are leaveners which means that they will give a rise to your cupcakes, in this instance.
However they are chemically different. Whereas baking soda requires an acid for it to work with, such as the brown sugar or cocoa powder in the recipe, baking powder already contains both the acid, usually cream of tartar, and the baking soda.
Just because the recipe contains the acid already doesn’t mean you can’t use baking powder; personally I prefer it. But some people prefer to use baking soda – hence why I include both in my recipes.
However, I do recommend using self-raising flour which has a rising agent already in it; but I like to get a little extra lift, so always add an extra teaspoon, although it’s optional.
Hope this helps!
Thanks
Lou
These didn’t last long in the house… the hint of coffee with the chocolate and cream cheese frosting was so good!