Mocha cupcakes

They say that positivity goes a long way to curing, so when someone I knew was recently in hospital I made them these yummy wee treats to brighten their day. These cupcakes are great for coffee lovers and aren't too sweet. They are good for a morning or afternoon tea. Some cupcakes can be extremely fiddly to make but these ones were so easy. I took the cupcake recipe from a book called Cupcakes by Susanna Tee and the icing from the good old New Zealand Edmond's Cookbook.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp instant coffee
85g butter
85g castor sugar
1 Tbsp honey
200ml water
225g all purpose flour
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 Tbsp milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Put paper cases in 20 cupcake tins or 10-12 muffin tins.
3. Melt the coffee, butter, sugar, honey and water together in a saucepan.
4. Bring to the boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Pour into a large bowl and leave to cool (Very important).
6. When cool, sift in the flour and cocoa powder.
7. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and add to the mixture along with the egg.
8. Mix until smooth.
9. 3/4 fill the paper cases.
10. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until well risen and firm to touch.

Icing
50g butter, softened
2 tsp instant coffee
1 Tbsp hot water
1-2 cups icing sugar

1. Dissolve the coffee in the hot water
2. Add to the butter and beat until creamy.
3. Slowly beat in the icing sugar until the icicng is of the desired consistency.