Mocha Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream

Hey Guys! 

Here's my first recipe I am sharing on my blog. I hope you all enjoy!



For the Mocha cupcakes:
1⅓ cups all-purpose flour
⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup whole milk
½ cup strong brewed coffee
1½ teaspoons espresso powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 egg, at room temperature

For the Coffee Buttercream:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ cups powdered sugar
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ Cup of strong brewed coffee
1 tbsp half & half or heavy cream
pinch of salt


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard-size muffin tin with paper liners.
Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Beat the butter and both sugars together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Add the egg and beat until combined.
In a measuring cup, combine the milk, brewed coffee mixture and vanilla.
Slowly add the coffee mixture. Mix on medium speed until fully incorporated.
Add flour mixture in 3 batches. Mixing slowly until incorporated.
Divide the batter evenly between the 12 liners.
Baking for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting cupcakes.

For the Coffee Buttercream:
Mix the strongly brewed coffee into the vanilla; set aside.
Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping once to scrape the sides of the bowl.
Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the powdered sugar a little at a time, waiting until it is mostly incorporated before adding more.
Once all of the powdered sugar has been added, scrape the sides of the bowl and increase the speed to medium-high and whip until fluffy, about a minute or two.
Add the coffee mixture, salt, half & half or heavy cream, and the vanilla mixture and continue to mix at medium-high until it is completely incorporated, scraping the sides as necessary.

Welcome

Welcome to Rochester LifeSTYLED, an independent lifestyle blog written by a twenty-something year old transplant from a different snowy city in New York. I plan to take you through my daily and sometimes not so daily life here in the "ROC" where I frequent plenty of Gastropubs and try to maintain a trendy and stylish image in a city that has all but forgotten what fashion is (be forewarned, I am a habitual "run on sentence" offender). I also plan to share more personal moments between my girlfriend Tasia and I... oh and our cat Alaska. Most of those moments consist of me trying out some incredibly difficult recipe or begging my girlfriend to hang a new shelf.

The idea of blogging developed after I realized I was saturating my iPhone memory by saving far too many photos I forgot to send to my folks back home. Join me if you'd like, while I brunch through this tiny city and pretend it's my own little Brooklyn - at some moments you may be surprised at how much of a resemblance there is!

By the way, I'm Ashley =)
Welcome!