Coffee And Walnut Cupcakes With Mascarpone Frosting

If you are not a fan of sweet things then this is the right cupcake for you. This is an almost savoury tasting cake which means that you will be able to devour about 8 in one go before you start to feel sick - always good to know if you are a greedy guts like me.  The mascarpone compliments the coffee well and when combined with the sponge gives an Italian style cake.

Ingredients:

Cake-
150g butter
150g light brown sugar
150g self raising flour
2 eggs
2 tsp of instant coffee mixed with 100ml
of water    (4tsp of coffee used in the cake)
40g crushed or whole walnuts

Frosting-
200g mascarpone
2tbsp light brown sugar
3 tsp of coffee (from the liquid made earlier)

Method:
1) Mix together 2tsp of instant coffee with 100ml of boiling water and leave to cool, this will be used in both the cake and the frosting.
2) Cream together the butter and the sugar until light and soft.
3) Next add in the eggs and coffee.
4) Sieve in the flour and beat until you have a smooth cake batter.
5) Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes on 180°.
6) In a large bowl mix together all of the frosting ingredients until combined.
7) Decorating comes down to your own style. For a rustic look you can smooth the frosting onto the cakes and sprinkle on the crushed walnuts, alternatively, you can go for a more classic look my piping on the frosting and placing one whole hazel nut on the top for decoration.