Café con Leche Cupcakes

Growing up in a household with a Cuban mother meant when asked if you want coffee it meant one of two things: espresso or café con leche. Suffice to say, I grew up drinking café con leche from a very young age and I still start and end every day with a cup of café con leche. Since the people in my family love coffee, espresso, and of course, café con leche–I figured I would create a dessert that mimics the flavor of café con leche. While the cupcakes are not warm, the taste does make you feel like you care drinking a delicious cup of café con leche! This recipe is also great because it combines three basic recipes into one. And in that sense, it shows how you can combined several basic recipes to make and create your own special recipes. These cupcakes are simple to make, very delicious, and a nice departure from a typical cupcake. So have fun trying this recipe and enjoy!

Café con Leche Cupcakes Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

 

For cupcakes (recipe instructions found here):

• 2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour 
• 2 cups of sugar
• ¼ teaspoon of baking soda
• 4 teaspoons of baking powder
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• ¾ cups of milk
• ¾ cups of hot water
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup butter, melted
• 3 teaspoons of vanilla extract

For espresso butter cream (recipe instructions found here):

• 1 cup of salted butter
• ½  cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup of shortening
• 1 cup of white granulated sugar
• 1 ½ cup powdered sugar
• 4 tablespoons of heavy cream (or milk)
• 1 cup of espresso, cooled

For whipped cream (recipe instructions found here):

• 1 cup of heavy cream 
• 3 tablespoons of sugar

TOOLS NEEDED FOR ASSEMBLING CUPCAKES:

• A pastry bag
• A spatula

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION / INSTRUCTIONS         

                                                                           

BRIEF DIRECTIONS (See the video demonstration for detailed instructions):

1. For this recipe you need to prepare 1 batch of vanilla cupcakes, 1 batch of espresso buttercream, and 1 batch of whipped cream. The cupcakes should be made and completely cooled down. The buttercream should be at room temperature and loosened up so that it can be put in a pastry bag. The whipped cream should be made and can be refrigerated. Once all three of those components are prepared, you can begin to assemble the café con leche cupcakes.
2. First, take the vanilla cupcakes and top with the espresso buttercream. Put the buttercream in a pastry bag. Then add a generous layer of buttercream about a ½ inch thick (See video demonstration for a visual). I use an open star size #8 tip for my pastry bag but you can use any tip you want. If you don’t have a pastry bag you can use a spatula, knife, or back of the spoon to spread the butter cream on the cupcakes or you can create a makeshift pasty bag by cutting a hole in the corner of a Ziploc bag to pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes. Repeat this process for the rest of the cupcakes
3. Next, fill another pastry bag or wash, dry and fill the same pastry bag with the whipped cream. Then add a ½ inch layer of whipped cream over the center of the cupcake, leaving a ½ inch or 1-inch uncovered so you can still see the espresso buttercream underneath. Repeat the process for the rest of the cupcakes, then serve. (Note: since these cupcakes do have whipped cream on top of them you will need to keep them refrigerated. I suggest adding the whipped cream to the cupcakes when you plan on serving them).