A little pick-me-up

I love my coffee! I am not the best morning person, generally need something to get me started. During the week, especially if I know I have a busy day ahead, my starter is coffee. The cafe at work is a bit hit and miss when it comes to a good coffee, but it's better than nothing.

I had a bit of a coffee craving last night and wanted to treat my work mates with something, so went hunting through my Hummingbird Bakery cookbook and came across a coffee cake. I've made this cake before and it's huge, I always have to half the recipe. On this occasion, I made cupcakes and paired them with a mocha cream cheese icing. An amazing match and a great (sweet) way to kick off the morning. ENJOY

Coffee Cupcakes with Mocha Cream Cheese Icing

Makes 16 cupcakes

From The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

Ground coffee beans

1 cup boiling water

225g unsalted butter

225g caster sugar

4 eggs

225 plain flour

1 tbs baking powder

1 tbs cocoa powder

Firstly, make a coffee syrup. I put a large teaspoon of ground coffee into a coffee plunger and added a cup of boiling water. Leave this to infuse for about 20 minutes. When the coffee smells lovely and strong, pour it into a small saucepan and simmer over a medium heat until the liquid has halved. Set aside to cool completely. Save a teaspoon of the syrup for the icing.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the cooled coffee syrup and beat until combined. Add and beat the eggs, one at a time. Sift in the flour, baking powder and cocoa and stir until just combined. Scoop the batter into cupcake holders and bake for about 25 minutes. Test that the cupcakes are cooked through using a wooden skewer or knife, will be ready if you can insert the skewer/knife and it comes out clean. Remove from oven and set aside to cool completely.

Mocha cream cheese icing

500g icing sugar

100g butter

250g cream cheese

Tsp coffee syrup (from the above recipe)

2 tbs cocoa powder

Milk (only if needed)

In a bowl, beat the icing sugar and butter until combined. Add the cream cheese and beat until smooth. Pour in the coffee syrup and cocoa and beat until smooth. Taste the icing, if it taste too sugary or grainy, add a splash of milk and continue beating. Continue doing this one or two more times, depending on taste. When ready, add icing to a piping bag and pipe the icing onto the cupcakes. Now, eat and enjoy!