One of the best ever cake flavour combinations will always be coffee with a hint of chocolate! I made a batch of these for my friend’s birthday (and obviously had to make a couple of extra for myself!) but I would highly recommend not sending cake through Royal Mail – lets just say that they didn’t look anything like the images that you are seeing here!
The coffee infused buttercream brings the bake from a 8/10 to a 10/10 in an instant, so make sure you have made it strong/weak enough to suit your taste.

Top Tip: The stronger you make the coffee paste, the better!

INGREDIENTS:

• 4oz butter/margarine
• 4oz sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4oz self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 a mug of very very strong coffee
• Chocolate vermicelli or chips
• 1:2 ratio of butter and icing sugar
• Decorations (chocolate coated coffee beans are my fave!)

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 180oC
2. Line a muffin tray with ~6 cases or 12 small ones
3. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar 
4. Mix in the eggs one at a time, stirring carefully
5. Pour in half of the strong coffee (1/4 cup/a few tablespoons)
6. Slowly sieve and mix in the flour and baking powder 
7. Fold in the chocolate bits
8. Divide into the cases, with approx 1-2tbsp of mixture in each
9. Bake for around 15 minutes until a skewer comes out clean 
10. Leave to cool whilst making up the butter icing with butter, icing sugar & the remainder of the coffee 
11. Decorate with all of the icing!