i heart cupcakes.

I do love a good cupcake. I've been wanting to make a good chocolate/coffee cupcake for a while now. So today, I did. I made one. Actually, I made 30. Although I haven't yet tasted the finished product (waiting until Sunday for my sweat treat day), the samples have proven themselves worthy.

BONUS: On my weekly Publix trip, these little guys were calling my name:

What is a cappaccino bambino? Heck if I know, but I knew they'd be perfect on the cupcakes I was attempting later in the day!

Chocolate Coffee Cream Filled Cupcakes....yes please! :)

For the cupcakes:
I used Paula Dean's recipe (below) but I was slightly disappointed. The recipe calls for a cup of oil, but the edges came out crispy and the middle of each cupcake sort of sunk in, and I think this might be because it had TOO much oil, maybe next time I'll try just 3/4 cup of oil. Also, I used dark chocolate cocoa powder instead of the regular stuff.

Chocolate Cupcakes

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder ( I used dark)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled
• 3 large eggs
• 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Whisk the dry ingredients, add in the wet ingredients. Mix until smooth. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake on 350 for 16 minutes. 

Like I said, this was good, but I've had better. Next time, I'll stick with my favorite chocolate cupcake of all time, from My Baking Addiction.

Once your cupcakes have cooled, fill them with this WONDERFUL Chocolate Coffee Cream. Paul's recipe is below but I couldn't find chocolate coolwhip, so I melted some semi-sweet chocolate chips and mixed that with the original. I didn't have any chocolate liqueur either, so I used 1/4 cup of strong brewed coffee. This mess was unbelievable!! I was so tempted to frost the cupcakes with it, and some of you might choose to do so. To fill the cupcakes, I used Wilton tip #230. If you have an apple corer, you can use that to scoop out the middle and put your icing in a ziplock to fill them. 

Chocolate Coffee Cream

• 1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup coffee-flavored liqueur
• 1 (8-ounce) container frozen chocolate flavored whipped topping, thawed

In a small bowl, whip the cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Slowly add the liqueur and fold in the whipped topping. Cover and chill.

For the frosting: Paula's Coffee Buttercream recipe is below, but let me warn you...1)It's not very pretty, and I'm all about the look of something I'm going to eat. 2) It doesn't make enough, so double the recipe.

Coffee Buttercream Icing

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 cup strong brewed coffee

In a medium bowl, beat the butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar, beating until smooth, then beat in the coffee.

Because I was a little bit disappointed with the look of the frosting, I decided to doctor it up a bit. I melted a few semi-sweet chocolate chips in a bowl and put them in a ziplock and cut off the corner. I drizzled the chocolate over my cupcakes and put some of those marvelous little cappuccino beans on top.

Go on. Make it. It's Sunday, so eat it. :)