The Kid got to bring home the ‘Class Bear’ to take on a weekend adventure and we decided to make cupcakes. Everyone knows you should wash your hands before you cook, and everyone knows I am a total germ-a-phobe.

Hot water, double rinse. Poor bear didn’t know what hit him.

Once the bear was clean the Baby and the Kid were ready to help make cupcakes! I went for mocha cupcakes, the coffee really brings out the chocolate flavor but if your bear is afraid of caffeine, just use decaf coffee…

ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
2 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coffee

Chocolate Whipped Cream (recipe, here)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time. Then the vanilla.

Alternating the flour mixture and the buttermilk until combined. Add in the coffee.

Pour the batter into the prepped liners. Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.

I topped these off with Chocolate Whipped Cream, the bear approves.

I hope the Bear enjoyed his foodie vacation and has just as much fun with his next family!

All the coffee lovers in the house say HEY…HO! I LOVE coffee. I thought it’d be cute to make Coffee+Donuts Cupcakes, using the coffee cupcake and frosting as a nice flavorful base. I know not everyone has a Mini Donut Maker, so here’s just the recipe for the cupcakes. They are really excellent on their own.

ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
1/8 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

(coffee frosting recipe, below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Combine the coffee and milk, set aside.

Alternate the flour and the coffee mixture into the butter mixture, beating until combined.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for about 15-20 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.

The cakes become more coffee-vescent the longer they sit. These make a really nice cake as is. The coffee frosting is just a nice touch.

Coffee Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
2-1/2 Tablespoons coffee
1 Tablespoon milk (as needed)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream butter, carefully adding the sugar, coffee, and vanilla; mix until light and fluffy. Add a little of the milk at a time to get the right consistency. Turn the mixer up to high and beat well.

Quite obviously, if you have a donut maker OR a tiny sous chef to help sprinkle the donuts: top these with a donut to make coffee+donut cupcakes. Or just buy mini donuts from the store, they make a really cute presentation.

Then you can just top these with a donut to make coffee+donut cupcakes. Or just buy mini donuts from the store, they make a really cute presentation.

Every year I do a watermelon ice cream bombe. I’ve even been known to do mini 50/50 bombes. But for my Kid’s 5th birthday, in the height of an 80 degree ‘winter’ in L.A. I figured ice cream bombes were in order instead of a traditional birthday cake.

I made two, an orange sherbet filled with rainbow sherbet, and a chocolate filled with coffee chip. The coffee one was for the adult guests, of course. When I make bombes I always go for the element of surprise, so I like the inside ice cream to be colorful and complimentary to the exterior flavors.

Orange bombe ingredients:
one – half gallon orange sherbet
one – half gallon vanilla ice cream
one – half gallon rainbow sherbet

Chocolate bombe ingredients:
one – half gallon chocolate ice cream
one – half gallon vanilla ice cream
one recipe of coffee chip ice cream

First, line a large bowl with saran wrap. This will make for an easy escape when you are trying to turn them out.

For the orange, I ‘line’ the outside with a whole half gallon of orange sherbet, covering the sides and bottom of the bowl. Same goes for the chocolate – use a whole half gallon of ice cream. Use a spatula to help smooth it out, and you can put it back in the freezer if the ice cream is too drippy or melting fast.

Next, I always like to add a thin layer of vanilla in between the outer ice cream and the filling. It adds a nice change of taste and looks darn pretty too. Use HALF of a half gallon, just follow along the outsides of the ice cream you’ve already put down.

Always put the bombes back in the freezer to set. You can do this process all in a few hours or a few days, as long as it’s tightly saran wrapped, it’s pretty smooth going. Now for the filling. For the orange sherbet, I used a whole container of rainbow sherbet, just soften it up and pour it in. Return it to the freezer.

For the chocolate bombe, I used my homemade coffee ice cream recipe and added mini chocolate chips. Again, pour it into the center of the chocolate bombe, then return it to the freezer.

Now to continue with the element of surprise, I always like to ‘top off’ the bombes, by covering it with more vanilla ice cream. that way you can’t see the filling, and again, you add a nice vanilla flavor to compliment all the ice creams.

Use HALF of a half gallon to cover the bottoms – if you notice that means you’ll actually be using the other half of the vanilla ice cream that you had used to do the inner layer.

Back in the freezer (yes, this is a process) and when you turn them out, and pull the plastic wrap off, you get a nicely shaped half-orb of ice cream.

Look how gorgeous they are when you slice into them!

These are a big hit at parties and you really DO need to throw a party to serve them ’cause come on, one bombe contains 3 containers of ice cream, that’s a heck of a lot to consume by yourself.

ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
2-1/2 heaping Tablespoons instant coffee crystals
3/4 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream
one cup mini chocolate chips

I prefer Trader Joe’s instant coffee. I’ve tried Folgers and other brands and they are pretty crappy. But if you have nothing else, what are you gonna do. Still, in all the test batches I’ve made, Trader Joe’s brand certainly came out on top.

In a small bowl combine the milk, coffee crystals, sugar, and vanilla extract. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Add the heavy cream.

Pour into the bowl of an ice cream machine. Freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. In the last 5 minutes add the mini chocolate chips.

After the ice cream is made, transfer to an airtight container. The coffee ice cream is so tasty you won’t believe that it ISN’T an egg based ice cream (i.e. more work), but you can make it even better by adding nuts, toffee, candy…yum. Try different things, it’ll all work.

katakuriko – potato starch

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease a 9×13 inch pyrex with butter. Get a large mixing bowl and stir together the dry ingredients. Now, as far as coffee, you can use instant if you don’t have fresh brewed on hand, just make it STRONG, that is where your flavor comes in.

Add the milk, coffee and vanilla to the dry mixture. Pour into a greased 9×13 pan. Cover tightly with foil – place the pan in the center of the over and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Uncover and cool for several hours.

When cool, use a plastic knife to cut it. Roll it around in some potato starch (katakuriko), that will keep it from sticking to each other when you serve it. Potato starch is just a light flavorless flour, don’t freak out at the name.
I like to cut mine into tiny bite sized pieces, but big ol’ chunks work well too. This is a really lightly sweet treat, that is great for dessert or snacking. Mochi is tasty, but the coffee in this gives it a really great addicting taste.

ingredients:
1 cup hot water
2 teaspoons instant coffee
1 cup honey
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp allspice

glaze ingredients:
2 teaspoons instant coffee
3 Tablespoons warm milk
1 cup powdered sugar

Heat oven to 325 degrees and prep your bundt pan the way I like, with melted butter and a sili-brush.

As you can see, getting a small child to do your prep work is always helpful. Granted, you may not want to allow them to eat a caffiened up cake – just sayin’.

Mix the hot water and the instant coffee and set aside. In a mixing bowl, mix honey, sugar, oil and eggs. Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Then partially add the dry ingredients and the coffee mixture, alternating until well incorporated.

Spoon batter into your prepared bundt pan and bake for 60 minutes, testing with a toothpick for doneness. Let cool, then turn out onto a wire rack to continue cooling.

While the cake is cooking, start your coffee glaze. Mix the instant coffee and the warm milk. Add this coffee mixture to the powdered sugar and stir until you get the right consistency for glaze.

Pour the glaze on the cake, drizzling over the top.

All the coffee lovers out there, unite! This cake is DEEELISH. Why don’t I have a finished pic? I probably was too busy eating it ALL.