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Home » Baking & Desserts » Cupcakes » Coffee Cupcakes

23 March 2017

Coffee Cupcakes

59.1K shares

Delicious coffee cupcakes that are easy to make and packed full of coffee flavour. Perfect topped with coffee buttercream.

Skip to the recipe

Coffee cupcakes topped with coffee buttercream on a wooden board with cake forks at the side.

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.

Freshly baked coffee cupcakes in a muffin tin.

In the end I discovered…

  • 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.

Coffee cupcakes on a wooden board with cake forks and coffee beans scattered around.

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Coffee cupcakes topped with coffee buttercream on a wooden board with cake forks at the side.

Coffee Cupcakes

Delicious coffee cupcakes that are easy to make and packed full of coffee flavour. Perfect topped with coffee buttercream. Recipe VIDEO below.
4.34 from 24 votes
Print Rate Save Go to Collections
Active Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 12 cupcakes
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INGREDIENTS

Metric - US Cups/Ounces
  • 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

These cupcakes are topped with coffee buttercream or if you prefer a different flavour then take a look at my cupcake index where you’ll find a selection of different ones to try.
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NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Calories: 215kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 40mg | Sodium: 174mg | Potassium: 81mg | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 550IU | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 0.4mg

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.


Course: Dessert

Freshly baked coffee cupcakes on a cooling rack.

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.

Delicious coffee cupcakes that are easy to make and packed full of coffee flavour. Perfect topped with coffee buttercream

59.1K shares

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Tanya Mills says

    January 26, 2023 at 4:52 pm

    What quantity multiple should I use to make one giant coffee cupcake 15cm diameter tin?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      January 31, 2023 at 12:01 am

      I have a version of this recipe which makes a larger layer cake which would likely be a better starting point for your recipe. Saying that, I don’t usually recommend baking the cake as one large cake as the outside of the cake is likely to become overcooked whist the middle can be undercooked. So whist that recipe is probably the best starting point for you, I would exercise caution when using your cupcake tin.

  2. Ali says

    January 26, 2023 at 9:20 am

    5 stars
    Fab! Fab! Fab!

    Reply
  3. Juliana Song says

    July 30, 2022 at 6:06 am

    5 stars
    Love this recipe. Received a lot of good comments from friend and family members.

    Reply
  4. Eloise says

    June 11, 2022 at 6:03 pm

    2 stars
    I’m following this recipe and my cake mixture is just so runny, I have to add additional flour. I used to make this without this problem, has the recipe changed?

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      June 30, 2022 at 10:07 pm

      This recipe hasn’t changed at all since it was originally posted. Given that you say you’ve previously made them successfully, I’d suggest that perhaps you accidentally made an error in measuring the quantities this time around.

  5. Pat Brodie says

    June 04, 2022 at 5:49 pm

    What size nozzle do I use for the topping on cupcakes

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      June 30, 2022 at 10:14 pm

      I use a JEM1B nozzle.

  6. Ines Stelzer says

    May 30, 2022 at 8:21 pm

    5 stars
    All i can say is YMMMM

    Reply
  7. Sarah J says

    February 24, 2022 at 5:06 pm

    4 stars
    Yummy & easy coffee cupcakes. The coffee in them is quite strong (don’t eat before bed!) so next time I might use a little less, or use decaf instead.
    It is a lot of buttercream, so again next time I would probably make a bit less.

    Reply
  8. Javaria says

    February 23, 2022 at 12:44 pm

    Plzz tell me can i change butter to oiland how much quantity of oil uses

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      February 27, 2022 at 11:34 pm

      This recipe has not been tested with oil. As the butter is not melted and provides texture to the cake batter, I would not expect a replacement to be successful.

  9. Ann Marie says

    February 18, 2022 at 8:46 pm

    Thank you so much for the recipe. Gonna make it with some scotch buttercream.
    Just one question, it says 3 medium eggs, how can I know the size? By any chance, do you have the estimate in grams?
    Thank you in advance.

    Reply
    • Charlotte Oates says

      February 27, 2022 at 11:28 pm

      HI, I have a whole post about egg sizes including the gram weights in various countries which should help – Eggs: Does Size Matter?

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