A little sunflower treat!

I have been in a baking kind of mood lately and yesterday I decided to try my hand at making one of my all-time favorite Filipino dessert, the mocha roll…except in cupcake form!  The fall colors of my cupcake paper liner and the cupcake itself made me decide to add a little card for it using the brand new Harvest Blessings set from ODBD and a free flower template from Mirkwood Designs:

My mocha sponge cupcake with butter coffee frosting:

I have no problems making regular cupcakes from scratch, but throw in some fluffy egg whites and folding that into a batter?  Well that makes this girl nervous!  I decided to conquer my fear of the dreaded egg white beat/fold technique because I was really craving a mocha roll (without the hassle of buttering and flouring a cake pan)!  You know what?  It wasn’t scary at all! Here’s the recipe:

WARNING: My kids had a couple and they were bouncing off the walls after two cupcakes…oh, did I mention there’s coffee in this?

Mocha Cupcake

Ingredients:

2 cups sifted flour

1 tsp. fine iodized salt

1 1/2 cups white sugar

3 tsp. baking powder

2 tbsp. instant coffee (fine granules)

1/2 cup oil

3/4 cup hot water

8 egg yolks

8 egg whites

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line cupcake pans.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, 1 cup of sugar, baking powder and coffee.  Make a well in the center and pour oil and hot water.

2. With electric mixer, beat at medium-low speed for 3 minutes.  Continue to mix while adding one egg yolk at a time.  Set aside.

3. In another medium bowl, beat egg white and cream of tartar with electric mixer at medium-high speed until frothy.  Add remaining 1/2 cup of sugar slowly.  Beat until stiff and glossy.

4. Gently fold 1/4 of beaten egg whites into batter, scrapping bottom of bowl, until lightly blended.  Gently fold about 1 cup of batter into beaten egg mixture.  Repeat until all batter is incorporated into the egg mixture.  Quickly fill cupcake wells.

5. Bake for 15 minutes and let cool.

Butter Coffee Frosting:

1 cup of butter, cut into large chunks (room temperature)

1 tbsp. instant coffee (fine granules)---I put mine in a Magic Bullet to get a fine grain

1 cup of whipping cream (chilled)

1 cup powder sugar (sifted)

Beat butter at low speed until fluffy.  Add instant coffee and beat for 1 minute.  Add whipping cream 1 tbsp. at a time until mixture is light and fluffy.  Add powdered sugar little by little.  Continue to beat until very smooth (it takes some time to completely incorporate…just be patient).

ENJOY!

Card Recipe

Stamp: ODBD Harvest Blessings

Ink: Tim Holtz Tea Dye distress

Paper: Me & My Big Ideas Harvest pad, Stampin’ Up! (Barely Banana, Summer Sun, Basic Brown), Canson watercolor paper

Accessories: Martha Stewart Fence border punch, yellow craft buttons, watercolor markers, Karen Foster tan Scrapper’s Floss, 3M foam adhesive, Glue Dots Permanent Dot N Go