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
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.
Parul says
Hi Charlotte,
This cupcake recipe looks wonderful and I’m gonna try it on this weekend. Just wanted to ask what would be the ingredient size if I want to make it for 6 cupcakes.
Thank you
Charlotte Oates says
Divide all the ingredients by two to get what you need for six cupcakes. You’ll need 1.5 eggs, what I’d suggest is to crack two eggs into a bowl, lightly beat them to combine the white and yolk and then weigh out 75g of egg to add to the other ingredients. You can freeze any leftover egg if you want to use another day.
Beth A says
Is there a way to do this with a leavening agent such as baking soda instead of self-rising flour?
Charlotte Oates says
You can use plain flour and baking powder. You’d need 150g of plain flour and 1 7/8 tsp of baking powder.
Beth A says
Amazing, Thank you! Sorry but there’s no chance you have conversions from grams to cups, is there?
Charlotte Oates says
The grams to cups conversions for the main recipe can be found by clicking the button just above the ingredients. If you’d like the conversion for the plain flour then you can find it using my grams to cups calculator. However, wherever possible I would recommend weighing your ingredients rather than using cups measurements as it’s more accurate and so increases you chance of a successful bake.
Georgia says
The actual cakes are really good after doing them but they did not cook at 140⁰ for 20 min. I had to whack that up to 180⁰ (after the 20 mins already) and cook for another 15 mins.
Charlotte Oates says
I’m sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, not all ovens cook in quite the same way. It sounds like that’s happened for this recipe.
Christine DeClerq says
These were delicious! I made a mocha Bailey’s buttercream to top them … wonderful. Thanks for the inspiration.
Charlotte Oates says
Ooh, I love the sound of the buttercream. I’ll have to give that a try.
Karen Lee-Brindle says
My family who are great coffee fans loved these. Can you use the mixture for a whole cake?
Charlotte Oates says
You can. The cupcakes mixture will make enough for an 18cm 2-layer round cake. It will need 30-35 minutes in the oven to bake. If you want to bake a different size of cake take a look at my coffee cake recipe. It’s slightly different as it uses plain flour and baking powder instead of self-raising flour, but it’s very similar and tastes just the same. With that recipe, there’s a calculator so you can easily work out the ingredients you need for a different size of tin.
Steve says
These are absolutely fab. Great coffee flavour and really easy to make.
Hasitha says
Easy to make and so yummy. Best coffee cup cake recipe. Thank you for sharing
Hazel says
Hi, I just finished baking them and OMG my husband and I just finished eating half of it! It’s sooooo good!! I just put less sugar in it as I don’t have a sweet tooth. 🙂 Thank you so so much!
Ingrid says
Hi. Do you mean instant coffee powder or finely ground beans
Charlotte Oates says
Instant coffee powder.