Devil's Food Cupcake with Coffee Buttercream

Everybody loves a rich, chocolate-y cupcake. However, I wanted to make a more grown up version by adding a little instant espresso powder to the batter, and topping the cupcake with a coffee buttercream. I always add a touch of instant espresso powder to any chocolate dessert that I make. I think that the coffee enhances the flavor of the chocolate. It's a tip I picked up from Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa) because she always adds coffee to her chocolate cakes and brownies. I carried over that coffee flavor into the buttercream as well. Coffee buttercream is a flavor that you do not see often at all, and so it transforms the chocolate cupcake into something more sophisticated and edgy.

The recipe I used is the Devil's Food Cake recipe found from epicurious.com. The only adjustments I made were to substitute buttermilk instead of whole milk, and adding instant espresso powder.

Filled cupcakes ready to be baked

Coffee Buttercream

Frosted Cupcakes

Devil's Food Cake

1 cup boiling water
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp instant espresso powder
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
3/4 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 12 cup muffin pans with liners.

Whisk together the boiling water and cocoa powder until smooth. Let cool slightly. Then, whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla, and espresso powder.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure that all the eggs were incorporated evenly into the batter.

Beat in the flour and cocoa mixtures alternately in batches, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. The batter may not be completely smooth looking.

Fill each cup about 2/3 full with the batter.

Bake the cupcakes for about 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

Coffee Buttercream

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3-4 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

Mix together the milk and instant espresso powder.

Beat the butter at high speed until smooth. Add the vanilla extract.

Add the confectioner's sugar, one cup at a time, until you have added 3 cups. After each addition, beat until smooth.

Slowly add in the milk and espresso mixture. Only add enough to reach the desired intensity of flavor.

Add more confectioners sugar as necessary to adjust the final taste and consistency of the frosting.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

My aunt came to visit today, and she (unfortunately) doesn't have a very sweet tooth. I decided to whip up a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies for her, since they're delicious without being too sweet. This is a recipe that I found on recipezaar, but I've modified it a little bit by adding a hint of cinnamon to the dough. The cookies are moist and chewy. I sometimes will add a few chocolate chips as well to jazz it up a bit.

The cookie dough

Ready to bake!
The finished cookies

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
(makes about 4 dozen cookies, depending on size)

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsps pure vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3 cups oats (not instant)
1 1/2 cups raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs and the vanilla extract, and beat until combined.

Stir in the oats and raisins into the cookie dough.

Use a cookie scoop to drop the dough onto a cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies for 11-13 minutes until golden, but still moist.

Remove the cookies from the sheet and cool on a wire rack.

Lemon Madeleines

I absolutely love madeleines. These little French cakes (not actually cookies) are very delicate and flavorful, and are perfect when paired with tea or coffee. You do need to purchase a madeleine pan, which can be found at any Sur la Table or Williams-Sonoma. They're a little expensive, but worth it if you like madeleines. I wouldn't recommend a silicone madeleine pan; I purchased one but I found that the cakes actually stick to the silicone, even when sprayed with Pam. A good nonstick metal pan is the best.

This recipe also calls for lemon emulsion, which is a lemon flavoring that is thicker and stronger than regular extract. Lemon extract can also be used, but you may want to increase the amount that you use, depending on how strong of a lemon taste you want to achieve.

Madeleines pulled out from the oven. You can see the little "hump" on the back of the cakes, which is also characteristic of madeleines.


Cooled madeleines. You can see the shell pattern on the front of the cakes, and the slighly crisp edges.


Lemon Madeleines

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon slat
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon lemon emulsion
*confectioner's sugar for dusting

Beat together the eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat until the mixture has increased in volume, and is thick and lemon-y in color. When the paddle is lifted from the bowl, the mixture should fall off from the paddle in a thick ribbon. This usually takes around 5 minutes or so.

Add the vanilla extract and lemon emulsion and beat to combine.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder.

Slowly, add the flour mixture to the egg mixture.

Once all the flour has been incorporated, slowly pour in the melted and cooled butter into the batter. Mix until the butter is just combined.

Let the batter rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
(please dont skip this step, as it causes the batter to firm up. It also affects the consistency of the finished cakes)

While the batter is resting, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Spray a madeleine pan with a nonstick baking spray, or grease generously with butter.

Drop spoonfuls of batter into the mold, leaving it mounded in the center (you do not need to spread the batter out into the mold; it will spread out on its own while baking).

Bake the madeleines for 9-11 minutes (depending on the size of the pan). The edges should be golden brown, and the center will spring back when lightly touched.

Let the cakes cool slightly before removing them from the pan. Lay them smooth sides down on a wire rack to cool completely.

When the cakes have cooled completely, you can dust confectioners sugar over the tops before serving.

Classic Mixed Berry Fruit Tart

For a family dinner, I made a simple and classic mixed berry fruit tart. It was a very light and refreshing dessert. I did not brush a glaze on the top of the tart because it was going to be served immediately. However, a simple glaze of melted apricot jam can be used to give the berries a shinier appearance, while also adding another hint of fruit flavor. The crust was made using a shortbread dough, which is sweeter than using a regular pastry crust. However, you can always make the tart using a pie crust as well. For the filling, I used pastry cream. I used a mix of different berries (halved strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries) scattered over the top of the tart.

This recipe can also be modified to make smaller, individual tarts that are perfect for a party or for dinner with guests.

Shortbread crust (makes enough for 1 10 1/4" tart pan, with additional dough left over) (courtesy of allrecipes.com)

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

1/4 tsp. baking powder

Cream together the butter and confectioner's sugar in a large bowl.

Sift together the flour and baking powder.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter. The dough will be crumbly.

Pat the dough into the tart pan.

Prick the surface of the dough with a fork to prevent the dough from rising too high while baking.

Bake the tart shell for 12-15 minutes in a 350 degree oven, until the dough becomes lightly browned on the edges.

Once the tart shell has cooled, spread pastry cream over the top. Cover the cream with berries or fruit. If desired, you can melt some apricot jam (seedless) and brush it over the fruit.