Wake up with a Coffee Cupcake!

My very good friend Natalie has a daughter, Alyssa, who loves coffee! For Alyssa's 18th birthday I wanted to make her coffee cookies, but instead wound up making a cupcake instead :) (guess you could say it was an awesome mistake). These cupcakes are made with real coffee and they have a really nice and light flavor. I guess you could say they are a little more dense in texture, compared to your average cupcake, but they still retain a lightness when you eat them. When I first made them, I gave a piece to my husband and some of our friends to see if they could figure out the taste and what their reactions would be. At first my husband could't guess the flavor, but once I told him, he immediately found it. Our friend Mark really seemed to enjoy them as he ended up keeping some of the sample pieces for a snack to eat later. When our friend Folmer (a.k.a.) David sampled the piece, he suggested that alone, without frosting, the cupcake would make a good morning breakfast muffin. I gave Kevin a piece with some chocolate ganache and he said it was tasty and really like the fudgy chocolate ganache. Who would have guessed that what was supposed to be a cookie would turn out to be a versatile cupcake.

To add the dessert quality to this cupcake I used the chocolate ganache frosting I had made for my chocolate flour-less cupcake. This actually complimented the cupcake quite well, with the bitterness from the coffee (though, I think it could even use more coffee flavor) and the sweetness of the chocolate. I gave Alyssa these coffee cupcakes with the ganache frosting. Natalie, who cannot eat chocolate suggested that I make a caramel frosting for the next batch I make so she can eat one :). Sounds like I have a new project!

Happy 18th Birthday Alyssa!