Cupcakes Spectacular 2008 - Chocofee Cupcakes

Cupcakes Spectacular 2008 is a new blogging event hosted by Arfi at Home bakes. This event requires you to bake any kind of cupcake with your favourite flavour and any type of frosting of your choice.

Yesterday my cake tin was empty, which in my household is a rare occasion. I also pondered on what to bake until this event came to my attention. Then decisions, decisions, on what cupcake to make, well chocolate is never far from my mind and spying a bottle of Tia Maria liqueur left over from Christmas, my Chocofee Cupcakes were invented. To describe the texture to these cupcakes is of a moist chocolate coffee sponge with fluffy flavoured butter icings. Now onto the taste combination of chocolate and coffee, lets just say a match made in heaven because equal flavours combine together here in perfect harmony.

Imagine sinking your teeth into firstly the fluffy flavoured icings and onto the lushness of the sponge, these cupcakes are a sheer experience of delightfulness my friends!

Chocofee Cupcakes

Makes 18 cupcakes - approx depending on size of paper cases used

Ingredients
175g (6 oz) softened butter
175g (6 oz) caster sugar
3 eggs
2 tbsp Tia Maria liqueur
175g (5 oz) self-raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
25g (1 oz) cocoa powder
Butter icing
225g (8 oz) softened butter
450 (1 lb) icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted & a little extra for dusting
1 tbsp Tia Maria liqueur

You will need a 12-hole cupcake tin lined with cupcake paper cases and also an extra cupcake tin lined with 5 cupcake paper cases. 1 piping bag fitted with rose nozzle – ensuring that all traces of the chocolate buttercream icing is removed before piping Tia Maria buttercream icing.


Method

Preheat oven 180°C/fan 160°C/350°C/Gas mark 4.

In a large bowl add the butter and caster sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs with the Tia Maria in a jug and add a little a time to the butter mixture beating between each addition until all combined. Sieve the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together over the mixing bowl and fold in gently until all traces of flour mixture are incorporated.

Spoon into the cupcake cases filling about three-quarters full and bake in the preheated oven for 15 – 20 minutes or until the tops feel firm to a light touch in the centre or a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool for 5 minutes in their tins before turning out on a wire rack to fully cool.

Make the buttercream icing by adding the softened butter into a bowl and add the icing sugar little by little beating this through adding the milk between additions of adding the icing sugar. Taking a quarter of the buttercream icing, place this into another bowl and add the Tia Maria stirring this through the buttercream. If the mixture seems a little too sloppy add a little more icing sugar. In the other buttercream bowl with the three-quarters of the mixture, add the cocoa powder and also mix this thoroughly through.

Fill one piping bag with chocolate buttercream and pipe around the top of the cupcakes. Fill the other piping bag with the Tia Maria buttercream and pipe a small circle into the centre of each cupcake. Finish off by lightly dusting the top of the cakes with a little cocoa powder. You may find you have a little butter icing left over but not enough to warrant altering the recipe.

Note: If you wish not to use Tia Maria add coffee to the same quantity.

Cupcakes Spectacular 2008 round-up