Mocha Brownie Cupcakes
It’s a cupcake, no, a brownie, no, a cupcake… It’s chocolate. And coffee. It’s “mocha”. Gail sent me this recipe for our baking date. It’s straight from the Hershey’s website where they call it a “European Mocha Fudge Cake”. As I was reading the recipe I decided that it looked suspiciously similar to a brownie recipe.
To save time, and, more importantly, to use these super cute cupcake wrappers, we baked them into cupcakes. Once baked, our suspicions were confirmed – little brownie cupcakes, browniecakes, cup-brownies. Cup-brownies? That should be right… Call them whatever you want, I will call them delicious. And Gail will back me up 110%
The real star here is the frosting. The mocha “frosting” is really just a coffee-flavored whipped cream topping. It’s amazingly light and sweet, like a sweet caffe latte. Once you pair the coffee topping with the dark chocolate brownie, delicious mocha love is born. Yes, ladies and gentleman, when chocolate and coffee fall in love and get married, that is where mocha comes from. (Be sure to tell all your children). I’m pretty sure Gail and I could have polished off that whole bowl of frosting alone, but we restrained ourselves… We deserve a frickin’ medal.
Mocha “Cupbrownies”
- 1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) butter
- 3/4 cup Cocoa
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans (nope, we left these out)
- COFFEE WHIPPED TOPPING (recipe below)
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line two 12-cup cupcake pans with the prettiest liners you can find.
2. Melt butter in small saucepan. Remove from heat and add cocoa; cool slightly.
3. Beat eggs in large bowl until foamy. Add salt and vanilla, then gradually pour in sugar, beating well. Add cooled chocolate mixture and blend thoroughly.
4. Fold in flour. Stir in pecans. (if using)
5. Pour mixture into prepared pans.
6. Bake about 18 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks to finish cooling.
7. Once cooled, frost with coffee topping. Refrigerate 1 hour or longer before serving. Store covered in refrigerator.
COFFEE WHIPPED TOPPING
- 1-1/2 cups cold whipping cream
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons powdered instant coffee
Whip cream with instant coffee until frothy, add brown sugar and continue to whip until stiff peaks form.
[Adapted from Hershey’s]
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