• Mocha Cupcakes with Cappuccino Cream Cheese Frosting (makes 14 – 16 cupcakes)
  

Cupcakes:

• 2 Tbsp. instant espresso powder
• 8 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 eggs and 1 extra egg yolk
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/3 cup flour

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Put cupcake liners in cupcake pans.
2. In a large bowl (or stand mixer bowl), mix espresso powder, melted butter, eggs, sour cream and oil.
3. Add the dry ingredients (cocoa, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, salt and flour) and mix to incorporate.
4. Fill cupcake liners with batter approximately 2/3 full.  Cook for 13 – 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

• 8 oz. semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 8 oz. heavy whipping cream

1. Bring the heavy whipping cream to a simmer, but not boiling.  Turn off heat, and add chocolate.  Let sit 5 minutes and then stir until the two are well blended.
2. Bring to room temperature.
3. When ready to use, chill in the refrigerate for 10-15 minutes.  Then beat on medium-high for 2 minutes.  Ganache should thicken and develop into a frosting consistency.
4. Frost each cupcake with the ganache frosting.

Cappuccino Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 8 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 tsp. espresso powder dissolved in 1 Tbsp. of water
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cup powder sugar

1. Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy.  Add the espresso liquid and mix to incorporate; add the cinnamon.  Beat in the powdered sugar until well combined.
2. Frost each ganached cupcake with this cappuccino frosting.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Makes 10 large cupcakes (can easily be doubled)

Cupcake Batter:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 2 extra-large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (8 ounces), not pie filling
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Cream Cheese Filling:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 extra-large egg
• 1/3 cup sugar

Chocolate Ganache

• 10 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped (chocolate chips are fine)
• 8 oz. whipping cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Brush the top of 10 muffin tins with vegetable oil or spray with non-stick cooking spray; line them with paper liners.
2. Prepare the cream cheese filling by beating together the cream cheese, 1 egg and 1/3 cup sugar until smooth.  Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.* In a larger bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vegetable oil.  Add the flour mixture and stir until combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Fill each paper liner about 1/3 full.  Top with a generous tablespoon of the cream cheese filling (you will have left-over filling) and then divide the remaining pumpkin cupcake batter among the the liners, placing on top of the cream cheese filling.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Set aside to cool; at least 1 hour before frosting the cupcakes.
6. To make the frosting, bring the whipping cream to a boil, then turn off heat.  Pour over chocolate and let sit 5 minutes.  Then stir until blended and smooth.  There are two ways to ‘frost’ the cupcakes.  You can dip each cupcake into the melted chocolate for a thin, glossy glaze (the cupcake on the left).  Or, you can put the frosting in the fridge for a bit (check after 20 minutes) to thicken a bit, and then frost them (the cupcake on the right).  I realize that in the picture you can’t see much of a different between the two cupcakes but the one on the right isn’t quite as glossy as the left cupcake and its layer of frosting is thicker.  If you have leftover frosting ( if you use the ‘glaze’ method you will), you can freeze it to use later.

*Nearly all cake and cupcake recipes call for mixing the dry ingredients together in one bowl, and the wet ingredients in another.  Then adding the dry ingredients to the wet mixture.  I tend to be a tad lazy and I simply combined the wet ingredients in the bowl and then whisked in the dry ingredients.