Delicious coffee cupcakes that are easy to make and packed full of coffee flavour. Perfect topped with coffee buttercream.
Of all the cupcake recipes I’ve shared on here (and there have been quite a few now!) this one has probably taken the longest to perfect. I had a very similar problem with this coffee sponge to the one I experienced with my chocolate cake, in that actually when you eat a lot of coffee cakes (and chocolate cakes), pretty much all the coffee flavour is coming from the buttercream and there’s very little coming through from the actual cake.
This was easily solved for the chocolate cake by simply mixing lots of grated chocolate into the cake batter which meant that you got a taste of chocolate in each bite, but you can’t use coffee in the same way so it needed lots more trial and error to get the flavour really coming though.
- It’s really important not to over-bake these as that really kills the flavour.
- Use powdered coffee rather than freshly brewed (or grind up coffee granules using a pestle and mortar or spice grinder) to get a strong flavour whilst keeping the texture of the cake just right.
- Adding a little salt allows you to up the amount of coffee included (so giving a stronger flavour) without the cake getting bitter.
- Switching out the caster sugar in favour of light brown sugar also helps to bring out the coffee flavour. Brown sugar has a hint of caramel and caramel and coffee are match made in heaven.
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Coffee Cupcakes
INGREDIENTS
- 2 tbsp coffee powder - or instant coffee granules ground in a spice grinder or pestle and mortar
- 150 g self-raising flour
- 165 g soft light brown sugar
- 165 g soft margarine - or butter
- 3 medium eggs
- 1½ tsp milk
- ⅛ tsp salt
Extras
- 12 cupcake cases
RECIPE VIDEO
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pre-heat your oven to 160ºC/140ºC fan.
- Place your cupcake cases into a muffin tin.
- Sift the self-raising flour (150g), coffee powder (10g) into a large bowl and salt (⅛ tsp). Add the remaining ingredients (3 medium eggs, 165g soft margarine, 165g soft light brown sugar and 1½ tsp milk) and mix until fully combined (either by hand or using an electric mixer on a low speed).
- Divide the mixture equally between the muffin cases (I use a cupcake scoop to help split it evenly).
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool in their tins for about 10 minutes and then move them to a wire rack to cool fully before decorating.
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Free From/Suitable For…
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Tree Nut-Free
- Peanut-Free
- Sesame-Free
- Soy-Free
- Sulphur Dioxide & Sulphite-Free
- Lupin-Free
The ingredients for this recipe are easily available free from all these allergens. However, please ensure you double-check allergen information for all ingredients.
Jo says
Hi also why coffee granules are best to use? Any particular brand?
Charlotte Oates says
I usually use Kenko (as that’s what I have in the cupboard), but I would expect all of them to be similar in how they bake, so I’d just use whichever is your favourite.
Jo says
Hi could I use caster sugar instead of brown sugar?
Charlotte Oates says
You can. It will have a slightly less caramelly flavour, but it will bake just fine.
Donna Malone says
A shocking recipe. Such a waste of ingredients, these cakes were quite heavy and had a weird taste, not sweet at all. All I could taste was butter and they were oily. Threw them in the bin.
Charlotte Oates says
I’m sorry to hear that. It sounds as though the butter/margarine was not fully combined with the other ingredients. When this happens and there are small lumps left in the mixture, these melt in the oven and seep through the cake leaving you with a greasy, heavy sponge. In future, you need to firstly ensure that your butter/margarine are soft (so they can be easily combined) and that there are no small lumps left in the mixture before baking.
Sarah says
Hey Charlotte,
Would i beable to add some cocoa powder to this recipe to make these mocha cakes? Your advice would be fab, excited to try this recipe!!! X
Charlotte Oates says
I’ve not tried, it but it should work. I’d replace some of the coffee with cocoa powder rather then simply adding it as this will ensure the ratio of wet to dry ingredients remains consistent.
Laura says
They didn’t seem to want to cook, they were still wet after an extra 10mins in the oven, then I just eaten one and the top half was nice but the bottom seem to be really dense. Don’t know what I did wrong ☹️
Emily says
What sort of coffee powder do you use? It’s not normal coffee granules is it? Thanks xx
Charlotte Oates says
I use regular coffee granules that I blitz in a spice grinder to make a fine powder.
Fatima says
I don’t have self-raising flour in my country. Can you please guide me how many grams of flour and baking powder should I use to make 150g?
Charlotte Oates says
I have a guide to making your own self-raising flour.
How To Make Self-Raising Flour From Plain Flour
Hena says
Hi, could I make these by creaming butter and sugar together first then adding eggs and flour? Thanks!
Charlotte Oates says
You can, but you don’t need to. They’re designed to be light and fluffy as an all-in-one cake.
Arina says
Hi! You could use ripe bananas as a substitute to eggs.
Charlotte Oates says
Have you tried it? I know bananas work as a substitute for eggs in some recipes, but I wouldn’t expect it to work well in this recipe.
Karina Virk says
I really want to try this recipe for a birthday, but they do not eat eggs! What can I use instead of the three eggs in the recipe?
Charlotte Oates says
Unfortunately substituting the eggs in this recipe isn’t all that easy as other ingredients also need to be adjusted. Instead I’d make my vegan vanilla cupcakes, but substitute 15g of the flour for 2 tbsp of coffee powder. I haven’t tested the vegan cakes as coffee cakes, but I would expect it to work well.
Judith says
I’ve used this recipe a few times now and my cupcakes are delicious every time. Thank you so much. Your website is now my go to for cupcakes and buttercream!
Isobel says
Excellent recipe, thank you! I used less sugar and cooked them at 180 for 24 mins instead, and they were lovely. Love them!!
Marian says
The flavour of these are lovely, but they needed longer than stated to cook (I don’t think I got it right, despite cooking for longer – but close!). I’ve used your coffee cake recipe before with no issues (this was the first time for the cupcake recipe) – is it possible to use the cake recipe for the cupcakes instead?
Charlotte Oates says
It’s absolutely fine to use this recipe for cupcakes. However with the exception of the cupcakes using self-raising flour and the cake using plain with added baking powder the two recipes are the same so I wouldn’t expect particularly different results from what you experienced.
Ayshea Deal says
Can i use instant expresso or would that be too overpowering?
Charlotte Oates says
I like my coffee cake to be full of flavour so I’d say yes. If you’re worried it’ll be a little strong then substitute some of the coffee with the same weight of flour.
Julie Arnott says
Used this recipe many times and it works every time really lovely cakes ❤️
D'Arcy Wilkes says
Such a cool recipe I’ve done it a lot and it tastes amazing! X
Marta says
Would it work if I add some chopped walnuts?
Charlotte Oates says
It would. I’d add roughly 75g of chopped walnuts to the mixture if I wanted to turn these into coffee and walnut cupcakes.
Fathima says
Could I replace the instant coffee with French vanilla cappuccino powder instead?
Charlotte Oates says
I haven’t tested it so I can’t say for certain, but as long as it’s an instant coffee powder I can’t see why it wouldn’t work.
Jeka says
I only have all purpose flour. How much baking powder/baking soda should I add instead?
Charlotte Oates says
If you have a look at this post it’ll tell you how to make self-raising flour from plain/all-purpose
How To Make Self-Raising Flour From Plain Flour
Sarah says
Made these yet oven temp seemed to be too low, took nearly an hour to bake. Texture is like a brownie yet taste delicious!
Charlotte Oates says
I’m sorry to hear that. Unfortunately all ovens operate slightly differently (even the same make and model sometimes) so it may be that yours will need to up a bit for this to work as it should. If you give them another try, increase the temperature by 20C.
I’m glad to head you enjoyed them anyway 🙂