Coffee and Walnut Cupcakes
Coffee and walnut cupcakes with a lightly spiced coffee and walnut flavoured centre, a coffee buttercream and a sweet coffee syrup.
Servings: 12 cupcakes
Calories:
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Alter quantities (metric only) 12 cupcakes
Here's what you'll need...
- 12 hole muffin tin
- 12 muffin cases
- Small saucepan
Ingredients you'll need...
Coffee and Vanilla Syrup
- 75 ml Strong coffee made with 1½ tablespoon instant coffee and topped up to 75ml with just boiled water
- 150 g Soft light brown sugar (¾ Cup - packed)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla bean paste
Coffee and Walnut Cupcakes
- 1½ tablespoon Coffee syrup
- 35 g Walnut halves ( 3 tbsp)
- 125 g Unsalted butter at room temperature (8½ level tablespoons)
- 110 g Soft brown sugar (½ Cup packed)
- 145 g Self raising flour (1 Cup) or use plain/all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder)
- Pinch of fine salt
- ½ teaspoon Ground cinnamon level
- 2 Large eggs at room temperature (US extra large)
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla bean paste
Coffee Buttercream
- 3 tablespoon Coffee syrup
- 170 g Unsalted butter at room temperature (⅔ Cup)
- 300 g Icing sugar confectioners' sugar (2½ Cups)
- 15 g Walnut halves chopped into small pieces (2 tablespoons)
Here's what we do...
Coffee and Vanilla Syrup
- Place your pre-made strong coffee and your soft light brown sugar into your small saucepan and mix together.
- Heat on a low setting, continually stirring, until all of the sugar has dissolved.
- Turn up the heat, continue to stir and once the mixture has started bubbling remove from the heat.
- Allow to cool and then stir in your vanilla bean paste.
Coffee and Walnut Cupcakes
- Heat your oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/355°F/Gas Mark 4.
- Place your 12 muffin cases into your muffin tin.
- Place your walnuts in your food processor and blitz until they reach a sand-like consistency. Or grind in your pestle and mortar
- Sift together your flour, salt and cinnamon and set aside.
- Starting on a low setting, with the beater attachment fitted, beat your room temperature butter and sugar together until soft, lighter in colour and paste-like. This may take up to 2 minutes.
- Add one egg and a dessert spoonful of your flour mixture and beat until all of the egg has combined, you need to ensure no egg remains before you add another. Wipe your bowl down with a spatula to ensure all of the mixture is combined.
- Repeat with your next egg and some more flour mixture.
- Add your cooled coffee and vanilla syrup and beat in.
- Add the rest of your flour mixture, beating in on a low setting until just mixed in and scraping down the sides and base of your bowl to ensure all of the mixture is incorporated.
- Beat on medium-high for about 10 seconds to ensure fully mixed, smooth and silky.
- Fold in your ground walnuts.
- Add equal amounts to each muffin tin. For mine, this was about 43 grams per cake. There is no need to spread the mixture out evenly in the muffin case, it will level off when baking.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until browned all over and the cakes spring back when gently pressed.
- Leave to cool completely on a cooling rack.
Coffee Buttercream
- Sift your icing (confectioners') sugar and set aside.
- Give your softened butter a beat to be sure soft enough and no longer sticking to the beater.
- Beat in your coffee and vanilla syrup.
- Leaving your mixer running on a low setting, gradually add your icing sugar a large spoonful at a time.
- Your buttercream is ready when smooth and all of the mixture has been fully incorporated.
- Cut the corner off your large piping bag and fit your large star nozzle into it, ensuring the bag fits snuggly around it so that the buttercream cannot not seep out. Then place in a large glass, fold over the sides and fill the bag with buttercream, using your small palette knife or butter knife.
- Roll the sides of the bag back up and tie off the top of the piping bag, or fold it over, so that buttercream does not seep out of the top as you ice. If you can see air bubbles in the bag give it a squeeze to release them.
- In one steady flow, pIpe a circle around the outer circumference of the cake, then continue to pipe in a swirl to fill the centre.
- Drizzle over about half a teaspoon of your coffee and vanilla syrup and then sprinkle with your chopped walnuts.
Supporting Notes
A tip to ensure that your coffee dissolves into your boiling water, grind it into a powder first using a pestle and mortar or pop it into your microwave (in a microwavable container) for up to 10 seconds.
Ensure that you fully beat each egg into your butter and sugar mixture before adding another, otherwise it can affect the quality of your final baked cake.
This cake will keep at room temperature in an airtight container for 2-3 days. It will keep for up to a week if refrigerated. You can freeze it before it is iced.