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.
Ingrid says
Hi. Do you mean instant coffee powder or finely ground beans
Charlotte Oates says
Instant coffee powder.
CJ says
Made these cupcakes for my niece’s graduation since she likes caramel coffee. I topped it with caramel buttercream. They were a huge hit. To up the caramel flavor next time I am going to try brushing the top of the cupcake with the homemade caramel before putting on the icing.
Julianne says
Look so yummy! I’m going to attempt these this weekend. What piping nozzle did you use to decorate the top?
Charlotte Oates says
It’s a JEM1B.
laura says
These look amazing! I wish to try but I can’t have wheat flour. Is it okay to substitute all purpose flour with gluten free flour?
Charlotte Oates says
I’ve not tried it but it should be fine.
amelia says
hello I was wondering If we should use salted or unsalted butter? the cupcakes look lovely
Charlotte Oates says
I’d use unsalted butter. You could also use salted but leave out the additional 1/8tsp salt listed in the ingredients.
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Emma, I hope she enjoyed them x
Hannah says
These are the best coffee cupcakes ever. I never bother to post on sites but for this I make the exception. My waistline may not thank you but my stomach does :))))
Any chance you could do a red velvet equivalent?
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Hannah. I’ve not got a red velvet cupcake recipe yet, I’ll add it to my list to develop. If you subscribe to my mailing list you’ll be notified when it’s ready (along with all my other new recipes).
Kate says
Hey quick question for you. For the coffee in the recipe 2 tbsp is listed twice in the ingredients. I think you don’t actually mean. Total of 4 tbsp but I wanted to clarify.
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks for pointing that out. It should just say 2 tbsp. I’ve recently changed how my recipes are written and the formatting of this went a bit wonky. I’ve fixed it now.
Irish says
Hi Charlotte, could you please send me the recipes in cups? Thanks in advance…
Irish
Charlotte Oates says
If you click on where it says “US Customary” underneath the ingredients list it’ll show you the ingredients in cups instead of grams.
Sithmini says
HI
Can I just double all ingredients to make a slightly bigger cake with few layers?
Charlotte Oates says
What size of cake and how many layers would you like?
Jemma Smart says
Is there a way that I can adapt this recipe to make a 2 layer 20cm cake please?
Charlotte Oates says
You’ll need to increase everything in the recipe by 1/3 so for example use 4 eggs instead of 3. The cooking time will increase to 30-35 minutes. The amount of buttercream in the coffee buttercream recipe should be enough for a layer in the middle, a layer in top and a thin coating around the outside of that size of cake.
Jemma Smart says
Great, thank you. Your chocolate cake recipe has gone down well with the family, so I’m hoping this does too!
Donna Granger says
Will you send me the recipe when you convert the recipe?
Charlotte Oates says
Hi Donna, The cups conversions are now included in the recipes for both the cupcakes and buttercream. Sorry it’s taken so long. If you want to know more about how I made the conversions then there’s a link in each post.
Saria says
Hi Charlotte,
Just wanted to let you know that I made these cupcakes with the coffee buttercream and they were an absolute hit! Had to adjust the oven temperature slightly (that’s usually the case with any recipe) and used a mix of dark brown sugar and caster sugar, but apart from that followed your recipe to the dot and they turned out fabulous! 🙂
Thank you for all the hard work that would’ve gone on to perfecting this recipe!
Charlotte Oates says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. You’d think these days there’d be more consistency in how ovens work at each temperature but sadly it seems that there isn’t.
keira says
this recipe looks lovely. only problem is everything is in grams. and all my measuring instruments are in cups, ounces or ml. and for the life of me i cannot find a converter for grams on the internet. so my search continues for a easy cupcake coffee recipe
Charlotte Oates says
I’m working on conversions at the moment and hope to add them to the recipe very soon.
Donna says
I have just made these as per the recipe & they turned out horrible. They did not rise, were very dense & inedible. They were definitely not like the picture above. I’m not sure if I have made a mistake or if the recipe measurements are way off. Won’t be making these again.
Charlotte Oates says
I’m sorry to hear that. I’ve made them quite a few times using these quantities so I’m not too sure what could have gone wrong.
Becky virden says
Will this recipe be enough to do a cake too?
Charlotte Oates says
It will make a 2 layer 18cm cake. You’ll need to bake it for longer, 30-35 minutes.
Simon says
Hi, Charlotte! Great coffee cupcake recipe. I agree they are hard to perfect and that you can’t use coffee grinds (unfortunately). But I’ve found using liquid coffee extract works pretty well.
niff andes says
hi. can i substitute the self-raising flour with all-purpose flour?
Charlotte Oates says
As far as I know all-purpose flour is the equivalent to plain flour in the UK, self-raising then has additional raising agents added. If you want to use all-purpose flour then you’ll need to add some baking powder. Nigella suggests adding 2tsp of baking powder for 150g of flour.
vikki says
I made Coffee flavoured Viennese Whirls this week for my blog. Your right though Charlotte the main coffee flavour from buttercream. Next time I am using some brown sugar to see if it enhances the coffee flavour in the cookie itself. Love your ideas Charlotte and I miss your monthly roundups. Do you still have them available to read anywhere?
Charlotte Oates says
I find switching from white to brown sugar can make quite a difference to the texture of biscuits so I’d be interested to know how it goes, let me know.
I decided to stop writing my monthly reports at the start of this year if you’ve ever got any questions then drop me a quick comment or email and I’d be more than happy to try and help.
Amby Cakes says
These look absolutely heavenly!