Give me coffee and chocolate anyday...

Last Friday, I had a craving for chocolate so bad, Rehan found scrounging around the pantry for candy. Nothing was to be found. I had a bar of Godiva Chocoiste (Dark Chocolate filled with Extra Dark Ganache) in my purse, but I was saving that to fight boredom at work. I wanted chocolate cupcakes. With milk. The recipe that I wanted to try didn't require softening any butter and the cupcakes looked so good!!! Deep dark chocolate with more chocolate on top and an espresso filling.

Rehan usually doesn't like chocolate cake, but even he admitted that these were delicious. He absolutley loved the coffee filling. Tayyab doesn't really care for chocolate cakes either, especially with chocolate frosting, but he was gobbling these up fast.

I got the recipe from http://www.alpineberry.blogspot.com/. I made a lot of changes, and I got about 40-something cupcakes, but Tayyab wanted to taste one right out of the oven, so of course Mari did too. So, again, I'm sorry I don't have an exact number. Thank you Mary for the delicious recipe. I will use the cake recipe as a base for many more occasions.

I added my changes in pink. :)

Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes
(makes 30 cupcakes)

Chocolate Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cup whole milk
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup brewed coffee (with 2 tsp instant espresso powder dissolved in the coffee)
(I didn't have espresso powder, so I made one cup of coffee with about 4-5 teaspoons of Folgers Instant coffee. You can't taste the coffee in the cupcakes, it just makes it heavenly soft and chocolatey.)

Espresso-Mascarpone Filling

8 ounces mascarpone cheese (I used 8 oz. cream cheese, softened)
2 tbsp milk (I used heavy cream, makes everything creamier)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp finely ground espresso beans (I used 4 tsp Folgers Instant coffee, ground into a powder)
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted (1/2 cup more)

Chocolate Glaze

2 cups (6 ounces) semi or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
6 tbsp (3 ounces) unsalted butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract

To make cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 30 standard (4 fl oz capacity) muffin cups with paper liners. In the bowl of a stand mixer, sift together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Add the eggs, egg yolk, milk, oil, vanilla and coffee and beat on low speed until well combined.

Fill your prepared muffin cups about 2/3 full. Bake until a cake tested comes out clean, about 18-23 minutes. Leave cupcakes in pan for 5 minutes then remove from pan and cool completely on cooling rack.

To make filling

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the mascarpone, milk, vanilla and espresso until fluffy. On low speed, slowly beat in the sugar until smooth.
(I ground up the coffee crystals, and mixed them with 1 tbsp pf the cream to make a paste. I beat the cream cheese until fluffy, then added all the other ingredients. I also added 1/2 cup more powdered sugar to make the filling a little stiffer.)

Transfer filling to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain tip. Insert tip into the top center of cooled cupcake and dispense about 2 tsp filling into the cupcake. (I filled with about 1 1/2 tbsp of filling.)

To make glaze

Combine chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until well combined about 2-3 minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. (I think I forgot to add the vanilla, but the glaze was still perfect.)

Frost the filled cupcakes with the warm glaze.

I didn't fill all the cupcakes with the coffee filling so Mari and Tayyab could enjoy some too. To be able to discern between the filled and un, I piped a small star of coffee filling on the filled ones. :)