Recipe adapted from here

Like I said, I made these for my husband’s birthday last month and they were a huge hit. I personally wasn’t a fan of the cake (too dense I felt), so here’s my adaptation using the cake from the Beehive Lemon Cupcakes.

Great for breakfast too – I mean, they do have coffee… 😉

The Recipe (makes 24 cupcakes):

2-1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter at room temperature

1-1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

Zest of a lemon

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips (I added closer to 1 cup)

Coffee syrup (recipe follows)

Mascarpone/Ricotta Frosting (recipe follows)

The Process:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F (I’ve found with my picky oven that I do better with 350 F)

2. Put paper cupcake liners into muffin cups.

3. Place flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and nutmeg in a bowl and mix together.

4. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of your mixer and beat on medium-high speed, until the mixture is light and fluffy (about 3 to 4 minutes). Scrape sides as necessary.

5. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until thoroughly incorporated. Add in vanilla and lemon zest.

6. Add half the flour mixture and mix until blended. Add half the milk. Mix in the remaining flour mixture and then the remaining milk.

7. Add the chocolate chips and mix at the lowest speed (I honestly prefer to mix things like this in by hand so I don’t over-mix my batter)

8. Using a small ladle or scoop, spoon the batter evenly into the paper lined muffin cups.

9. Bake for about 15 minutes until the tops are golden brown (I found with these cakes, that 13 minutes was perfect, so I say experiment with your oven)

10. Remove cupcakes from tin and place on cooling rack. Allow to cool completely.

11. Using a fork, poke several holes in the tops of the cooled cakes. Spoon over about 1-2 tablespoons of the Coffee Syrup on the top of each cupcake. Pipe on Mascarpone Frosting and garnish with either cocoa powder and/or extra mini-chocolate chips.

Coffee Syrup

1 cup strongly brewed coffee

1-2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Add powdered sugar to coffee, mix to dissolve. Cool to room temperature.

Mascarpone-Ricotta Frosting

1 cup heavy cream

Mascarpone cheese, 8 oz. container

1/4 cup Ricotta cheese, strained slightly

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1-2 tablespoons milk

Whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form. In a separate bowl, whip the cheeses, powdered sugar, vanilla and milk until thoroughly incorporated. Gently fold in whipped heavy cream. Pipe frosting onto cupcakes with star tip. Dust with cocoa powder and extra mini chocolate chips.