Coffee Cupcakes (Made with Espresso)

Whoever said that you can only get a decent caffeine fix from a cup of coffee? These super soft and moist coffee cupcakes will prove that wrong. 

Topped with ultra creamy coffee mascarpone frosting, we’re sure that these baked goodies will not only give you that extra boost of energy you need to get your day started, but they’ll put a smile on your face.

I can’t think of a better way to start my mornings! Can you?

By the way, if you really love the rich flavor of coffee in your desserts, then don’t forget to check out my tiramisu cake recipe as well.

In this article, I am going to walk you through the steps of baking your own coffee cupcakes at home, give you expert tips (especially on how to make luscious mascarpone frosting), answer frequently answered questions and more! 

Are you excited? Then let’s get started!

Jump to:

• Video Tutorial
• Ingredients
• Kitchen Tools & Equipment Needed
• But First, Coffee
• Step-by-Step Guide to Making the Best Coffee Cupcakes
• Recipe Variation
• FAQs
• Wrapping Up Our Coffee Cupcakes Recipe
• More Cupcake Recipes to Try
• Recipe

Video Tutorial

Ingredients

Coffee Cupcakes

• ½ cup strong brewed coffee - preferably espresso, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon espresso powder
• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• ¾ cup granulated white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup buttermilk

Coffee Mascarpone Frosting

• 2 ¼ cups mascarpone, cold
• 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup strong brewed coffee (preferably espresso, chilled)
• ¼ cup heavy cream, cold

Kitchen Tools & Equipment Needed

• Oven
• Muffin pans
• Cupcake liners
• Utility bowls
• Stand mixer or handheld mixer
• Airtight containers
• Piping bag

But First, Coffee

You may skip ahead to the actual recipe if you want to. I just want to take this moment to talk about coffee, the star ingredient in this cupcake recipe.

Now, I usually pick up an espresso from my favorite coffee shop whenever I bake coffee cupcakes. That’s because I simply don’t have a professional coffee machine at home that can replicate the deep coffee flavor that I prefer.

That said, you can certainly whip up your favorite brew at home if you have access to an awesome coffee machine.

Other options include grounding your own espresso beans or even dissolving your preferred instant espresso powder in hot water.

Can I use other types of coffee?

Yes, absolutely! Any type of coffee will work for this recipe. You can even dissolve instant coffee powder. 

If you are going to use instant coffee, though, then go for your favorite one since it will certainly impact the overall flavor of your dessert. 

I can’t tell you how long it used to take me to choose the right coffee powder to use whenever I bake these cupcakes. I can spend more than an hour in the coffee aisle and I have probably tried all the selections being offered by our supermarket before I eventually discovered how much I love the espresso that I use now.

Can I use decaf for my coffee cupcakes?

If you’re planning to serve this dessert to kids or to guests who simply don’t love coffee that much, then yes, you can opt for decaffeinated coffee instead.

Anyway, now that you know what coffee to use, then why don’t we move ahead to the fun part? Let’s bake our coffee cupcakes.

Step-by-Step Guide to Making the Best Coffee Cupcakes

1. Do the Prep

Preheat your oven to 350°F (or 175°C). As you’re waiting, line two 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners. This recipe usually yields around 16 to 17 cupcakes. Set them aside.

Do I need a cupcake pan or cupcake tray for this recipe?

As mentioned above, I didn’t use a cupcake pan or cupcake tray to make coffee cupcakes. So the short answer is no.

You can use these baking trays interchangeably. That said, this doesn’t mean that they are exactly the same. They differ in shape and size.

The muffin cups of a muffin tin are more shallow compared to cupcake cups. I find that this helps in baking my cupcakes more evenly. 

However, there are a couple of disadvantages to this. Since the muffin cups are more shallow, this can significantly limit the height of my coffee cupcakes.

In addition, I would also need to take extra care when pouring my batter as my cups can potentially overflow.

Do I need to use paper liners?

In my experience, using paper liners really makes the task of removing my baked cupcakes a lot easier, even when using a non-stick tray. 

You can also grease your plan with a non-stick vegetable oil spray as an alternative.

2. Make the Coffee Cupcake Batter

In a small bowl, stir ½ cup of your strong-brewed coffee and 1 tablespoon of instant espresso powder to combine. I have found that the extra dose of instant coffee powder helps me achieve the flavor and caffeine kick that I want for my baked goodies.

I can’t help it, I’m a coffee lover!

Then, in a medium-sized bowl, stir 1 and ¾ cups of all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, and ½ teaspoon of salt together. Set both bowls aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat ½ cup of unsalted butter and ¾ cup of granulated sugar together with a stand mixer or handheld mixer with a whisk or paddle attachment. Do this for 1 to 2 minutes or until your butter and sugar mixture gets creamy.

In the same large bowl, add 1 large egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and stir further. 

Then, taking your other bowls, add your dry ingredients, ½ cup of buttermilk, and coffee mixture alternately beginning and ending with your dry ingredients.

Mix them at medium speed until your ingredients are fully combined. 

Quick Tip: You can substitute white granulated sugar with brown sugar. It really complements the color well. However, doing so will add a layer of molasses flavor to your coffee cupcake. 

Another substitute you can make is to use whole milk instead of buttermilk if you don’t have it available.

3. Bake the Coffee Cupcakes

Our coffee cupcake batter is ready. Spoon it into your paper-lined cups until they’re about ⅔ to ¾ full. This is critical to prevent your cupcakes from spilling over.

You may watch the 1-minute video of this recipe to see how I do it.

Anyway, once you’re ready, bake your coffee cupcakes for about 17 to 20 minutes. One nifty trick is to poke the center of a tender cupcake with a cake tester. By the way, a toothpick will also work. If it slides out clean, then congratulations! 

Your coffee cupcakes are now baked. However, they’re not quite done just yet. The next step in this cupcake recipe is to prepare the coffee mascarpone frosting.

Help! My batter did not yield 16 to 17 cupcakes.

How many cupcakes you end up getting from the batter in this recipe largely depends on the size of your cupcake or muffin tin. You can even bake mini cupcakes if that’s the kind of tray you have.

However, if you do attempt to adjust the size of your cupcakes, just remember that their baking time will change as well.

For instance, regular-sized cupcakes can take around 17 to 20 minutes to bake while mini cupcakes only take around 9 to 15 minutes.

4. Create the Coffee Mascarpone Frosting

Let your freshly-baked coffee infused cupcakes cool to room temperature. Prepare yourself for the aroma. These baked goodies smell like they just came out of a coffee lover’s dream!

Quick Tip: Remove your cupcakes from the baking tray and place them on a wire rack. This way, they can cool completely, thanks to better air circulation. 

While we’re waiting, beat 2 and ¼ cups of cold mascarpone with your electric mixer in a large bowl. Do this until your mascarpone is extra creamy.

Sift 1 and ¼ cups of powdered sugar and mix it with your mascarpone until it is fully dissolved. 

Can I substitute powdered sugar with granulated sugar? 

While doing so is possible, I don’t recommend it since it can impact the creamy texture of your frosting. You will also need to adjust the measurements, which can be quite confusing. 

Fortunately, it is easy to make your own powdered sugar. Just grind a cup of granulated sugar with a tablespoon of cornstarch.

There’s a wide variety of sugar types that you can use to make your own powdered sugar. However, I advise against using brown sugar. That’s because it can be difficult to grind it to a powdery consistency, given how sticky it usually is.

Going back to the recipe, add a teaspoon of vanilla and ¼ cup of strong-brewed coffee to your frosting. Keep stirring until your ingredients have been completely incorporated.

Similar to our batter earlier, you may also opt to dissolve espresso powder in hot water to achieve that coffee flavor in your frosting. Just remember to let your coffee cool down to room temp before adding it to your frosting. Otherwise, it can melt your mascarpone and ruin its texture. 

One trick that I use is pouring my coffee into a small bowl and stirring it from time to time. This helps it to cool down to room temperature faster.

Then, stir in ¼ cup of heavy cream until it’s creamy. 

Help! My mascarpone frosting is too soft.

Don’t worry, there’s a quick remedy for that! Just add more powdered sugar to your frosting. Add half a cup at a time. However, you may want to add a pinch of salt to cut down the sweetness.

But what if my frosting is too thick?

Again, there’s a simple solution. Just add 1 to 2 tablespoons of heavy cream to lighten it up a bit. 

5. Dress up Your Coffee Cupcakes

Finally, it’s time for my favorite part of the recipe: dressing up cooled cupcakes with frosting. Squeeze your frosting through a piping bag using the tip you prefer. 

I usually serve my cupcakes this way. That said, feel free to add the garnish you prefer. I suggest topping each coffee cupcake with a chocolate-covered espresso bean.

That said, prepare yourself for an explosion of coffee flavor if you do decide to garnish your cupcakes with chocolate-covered espresso beans. It’s something to think about if you’re planning to serve this dessert cuisine to non-coffee lovers.

As for storage, you can store your frosted cupcakes in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. 

Unfrosted cupcakes can last even longer than that. They can last up to a week in the fridge as long as they’re in an airtight container.

Can I freeze my cupcakes?

Yes, you can. Just wrap your coffee desserts individually in plastic wrap and place them in freezer bags. They can last for up to 3 months when stored this way. To thaw, just unwrap them and let your cupcakes sit at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours.

Recipe Variation

Do you want to make adjustments to this recipe? Then here are a couple of my suggestions:

Don’t limit yourself to mascarpone frosting.

There are plenty of frosting recipes and ideas out there. 

For instance, you can upgrade your mascarpone frosting and turn it into a coffee buttercream frosting by swapping the heavy cream with butter. 

Another idea is to swap your powdered sugar with cocoa powder to make mocha frosting. This is nice if you’re craving that mocha flavor, but you don’t want to necessarily make mocha cupcakes.

You can convert this cupcake recipe to make a coffee cake.

However, you might want to swap the all-purpose flour with cake flour to make the texture fluffier. Don’t forget to double-check your ingredient and temperature measurements as well.

FAQs

Wrapping Up Our Coffee Cupcakes Recipe

I hope you have enjoyed my coffee cupcake recipe. It was certainly formulated with coffee lovers in mind. However, I did include some tips on how to curb the caffeine and rich coffee flavor, especially if you’re planning to make a kid-friendly version.

Please don’t forget to check out my other cupcake recipes as well. My brownie cupcakes are to die for, while my salted caramel cupcakes are mouthwatering.

Finally, feel free to explore the Also the Crumbs, Please website for ingredient substitutions and air fryer usage tips. See you in the next recipe!

More Cupcake Recipes to Try

• Brownie Cupcakes
• Banana Cupcakes
• S'mores Cupcakes
• White Chocolate Cupcakes
• Chocolate Orange Cupcakes
• Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Recipe