Wednesday 23 January 2008

Toffee Coffee Cupcakes... #1

Mmmmm, cake....!
Mmmmm, lots of cake....!

Toffee Coffee Cupcake

Ah, gone!

Mmmm, more...

A question for your knowledge. These were a little experiment, you can see the toffee sank to the bottom. Anybody good at the whole science thing of baking? If so, please tell me why the toffee sank to the bottom and what could I do to suspend the toffee pieces throughout the cake. Possibly sprinkle the toffee pieces on the top prior to baking?


Why did I bake these, for Quirky Cupcake's beloved Jaos' birthday of course! Quirky Cupcake runs a monthly Cupcake Hero event, this month the theme was coffee. I LOVE coffee cake, always have done, even as a child when I didn't like coffee, I loved coffee cake.

As I said they were an experiment, I wanted to make coffee cake but I wanted to do something different to my normal coffee cake. I kept thinking.... and thinking... Then just as I was stuffing another left over from Christmas toffee in my mouth I thought toffee coffee. I quickly put the rest of the bag of toffees in the freezer.... and waited.

Toffee Coffee Cupcakes
4oz self raising flour
4oz soft butter, room temperature
4oz sugar
2 medium size eggs, room temperature
1 or 2 teaspoons of instant coffee, depending how strong you like your coffee cake
Splash of milk
10 frozen toffees

Pre-heat then oven to 175C (medium heat)
Unwrap the toffees and place in a small food processor, blitz until you have small pieces, some will be like sand.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add the eggs and mix, sift in the flour and mix, add the coffee powder and mix, add a splash of milk to loosen.
Note: I mixed in the toffee pieces with the cake mixture before baking but next time I'd sprinkle them on the top just before putting in the oven. Unless someone tells me a better way - please?
Spoon into cake cases and then bake in the oven. The tiny ones take about 10 minutes, the larger ones 12-15 minutes, this will all depend on your oven.
Allow to cool and then ice as you please. We also made chocolate cupcakes as we had young guests who I didn't think should be eating coffee cake. This meant we had to make coffee icing (icing sugar, instant espresso powder and a tiny amount of hot water to make a paste) and chocolate icing, using cocoa powder instead of espresso powder. We then used both lots of icing to decorate the cakes.

Almost every morning I make a pot of stove top coffee and drink this all myself. I usually get 3 small cups out of it if mixed with hot milk. Please help me I've had 4 of these cakes this morning alongside my normal caffeine hit in liquid form - I'm seriously buzzing!

19 comments:

Pat said...

I know fruit and nuts if you are using in cakes it is better to coat them in a bit of flour first to help them stop sinking to the bottom. Maybe if you coated the toffees in flour and then like you said sprinkle on the top before baking it might help.
They look really yummy by the way!!!
So how was your veggy box delivery??? Thinking of giving them a go here.

slush said...

They are adorable, and I LOVE toffee! Who doesnt? Thanks so much for baking for Jaos' birthday! xo

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

Hi Pat, thanks for the tip. I've e-mailed you about the veg box.

Hi Slush, thank you! and thanks for picking one of my favourite flavours! We had fun making them and we're a bit wired having eaten too many. Hope you all enjoy Jaos' birthday.

Amanda x

Meeta K. Wolff said...

oh boy these look gorgeous!

Sylvia said...

I just say: Looks lovely and delicious (toffe is one of my favorite sweet flavors)

Deborah said...

These are gorgeous!

Aimée said...

Wicked photos, Amanda! These look so yummy. We just baked a batch of cupcakes, too, I think I'll steal some of your icing decorations.

Maggie said...

These look seriously cute! I love the sprinkles. Can't help with sinking toffee though.

Marie Rayner said...

Those cupcakes look decadently delicious! I was going to say reserve a bit of the flour mixture back and coat them with it before stirring them into the batter. Also sprinkling them on top may help as well.

Truffle said...

Gorgeous! I want one of these with a cup of coffee right now. They look wickedly delicious Amanda.

Anonymous said...

Hi, I agree with Pat to try tossing the toffee in flour. It will depend on the size of the pieces as to whether this will work because if they are heavy they will still drop to the bottom. I would add them to the cup cakes in their cases see what happens.
Good Luck
Mxxxxx

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

Hi Meeta, thank you!! x

Hi Sylvia, I'm trying to go off toffee and chocolate and all the sweet stuff - it's not working though.

Hi Deborah, thank you

Hi Aimee, praise indeed! You always make everything look beautiful.

Hi Margaret, the sprinkles came in a Donna Hay cooking set box. I loved them too.

Hi Marie, I'm going to have to try this flour trick.

Hi Truffle, if they could take the journey I'd send you some... well I would if there were any left.

Hi Mum, definitely going to try the flour trick and sprinkling them on the top BUT going to try not to make them as so many other things I want to try making first. xx

Thank you for your comments.
Amanda x

FH said...

How gorgeous!! Photos are lovely to look at!:)

I just came back from break and enabled the comment again. Saw your blog list too, I thought she has almost as many as mine!:D

Enjoy the weekend Amanda. I posted Risotto and Calzones today!:)

Michelle said...

Those are so cute and look delicious! I was going to suggest the coating in flour, but see it has already been offered. Regardless of any fallen toffee, they look like they were properly enjoyed!

Caffienated Cowgirl said...

Oh dear lord...I MUST make those!

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

Hi Asha, risotto and calzones sound good will stop by to drool later.

Hi Michelle, cough, cough, yes, they were, erm, enjoyed!

Hi CC, do and let me know if you can get the toffee to suspend and if so how you do it.

Thank you for your comments.
Amanda x

Tempered Woman said...

I really love the sprinkles decoration, not to mention the clever name and idea! Flour or cocoa could work or you could try adding the toffee halfway into the baking time. Give the batter a chance to firm up so it will suspend the toffee better. Great hero cupcakes!

Anonymous said...

These look so adorable and delicious!

Mary said...

These look so delicious! What a great idea to combine toffee and coffee! And I think I would rather enjoy coming to a chunk of toffee at the bottom of the cupcake.

LinkWithin

LinkWithin Related Stories Widget for Blogs