Mouth-Watering Mocha Cupcakes

***I was chatting with one of my little sisters, Suzanne, the other day, and she told me about the fabulous Mocha Cupcakes that she was in the process of making. Well, of course I had to get the recipe! She sent it to me via e-mail, and I decided to leave the extra notes that she wrote at the bottom...I thought they were cute...LOL.

Needless to say, these cupcakes really did turn out to be fabulous...and very easy to make! I actually had some buttercream icing stashed in the fridge from the wedding cake that I made last week, so I used that instead of whipped cream. Suzanne bought a jar of pre-made icing to use on hers. Just use your favorite...you can't go wrong with any kind of icing!

Enjoy!***

YUM...just look at the inside of that cupcake!

Mocha Cupcakes with Whipped Cream:

Source: "Perfect Chocolate" by Parragon Publishing

Ingredients:

2 tbsp instant expresso

6 tbsp butter

3/8 cup superfine sugar

1 tbsp honey

1 cup water

1 5/8 cup all-purpose flour

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

3 tbsp milk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Whipped Topping:

1 cup whipping cream

Unsweetened cocoa for dusting

1. Put the coffee powder, butter, sugar, honey, and water in a pan and heat gently, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer for 5 minutes. pour into a large heatproof bowl and let cool.

2. When the mixture has cooled, sift in the flour and cocoa. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk, then add to the mixture with the egg and beat togerther until smooth. Spoon the batter into the paper cases.

3. Bake the cupcakes in a preheated oven at 350*F for 15-20 minutes.

4. For topping, whisk the cream in a bowl until it holds its shape.

NOTES:

I just had to leave my sister's extra notes below...I thought they were cute. :)

"Okie dokie there it is..... the recipe calls for using the little bitty cupcake tins but i just used the big ones and it made one serving...but I had a lot of battter so they are huge. =] Oh and another note... I used 3 tbsp of instant cappuchino and added about 1/4 of a cup more sugar.. just taste the batter and see if it needs to be sweeter =]"

Thanks again, Suzie for the recipe...I love ya!!!

Here we are at my wedding...I've always liked this shot of us...

Yep...that's us goofing off...haha...