Espresso cupcakes

For me one of the few things that can calm work stress is baking...and I've pretty much been baking every week! My beautiful friend D was having a birthday dinner and she loves coffee (esp Blue Bottle), so I decided to make her some cupcakes with coffee flavor in them. My boss had just gotten promoted too...two birds with one stone!

The Mini Espresso Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting recipe was from Food Network. I switched out the PB frosting for espresso buttercream by adding cocoa powder and a bit of instant coffee diluted in a teaspoon of hot water to the buttercream.

The cake was super delicious coming out of the oven (as most cakes are!) but I think I overbaked it, so it was a bit dry the next day. The conversion of baking times are so tricky! If I made this again, I would make a loaf, not a cupcake, and omit the cocoa powder from the buttercream, as it was just a touch too sweet.


The white chocolate writing was not too hard - anyone can do it. Melt white chocolate chips *very slowly* in the microwave, place contents in extra strength ziploc bag, snip tiny hole at the tip, and practice your squeeze writing on wax paper.

These were my mess ups. Good luck with yours!