Mocha Cupcakes

Ingredients:

175g Butter

175g Caster sugar

150g Self-raising flour

25g Cocoa Powder

1tsp Instant coffee mixed with 1tbsp water

3 Small eggs

For the icing:

50g Butter

1tsp Instant coffee

1tbsp Cocoa powder

75g Icing sugar(add more if needed)

1) Preheat the oven to 180º/gas mark 4.
2) Cream the butter and sugar together. Add eggs and coffee then sieve in flour and cocoa powder.
3) Combine all of the ingredients together well.
4) Divide the batter into muffin tins or cupcake cases. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20 mins. Do the skewer or bounce test to check if cakes are cooked, if not, give them a little longer.
5) Allow to cool fully before decorating. 

Now it's time to make the icing!
1) Cream the butter well until it is very pale in colour. 
2) Add the rest of the ingredients to the creamed butter and mix well. I found that I needed to add more icing sugar to thicken up my icing.
3) Spread evenly across the top of each cupcake. Et voila - Coffee Choccy Cupcakes!

Don't be afraid to experiment with different toppings. I melted a couple of blocks of 80% cocoa solids chocolate and drizzled over the cakes to add a bitter taste to counteract the sweet. It helps that my boyfriend is a mocha fanatic, but these went down really well!