Continuing on our Fierce Beer theme from yesterday, today it’s all about the Cafe Racer Porter in these mocha cupcakes!
Fierce describe their Cafe Racer as a “dark roasted coffee and vanilla porter with a hint of danger. A nod to the speed-crazed bikers who risked life and limb to race from one greasy spoon café to the next – dark as your favourite leathers, smooth as a Triumph Bonneville and crazy as going ton-up and heading for the hairpin”
I’m not a fan of danger per se, but I am a big fan of baking with Cafe Racer, and I was truly delighted with how these bad boys turned out. A rich chocolate and coffee cupcake sponge holds a crowning glory of coffee and porter buttercream with chocolate chips and curls scattered on top for good measure. I had great feedback from my colleagues on these, and a friend who finished off the sample bottles was a big fan – and rated it highly on Untapp’d.
- 125g butter, cubed
- 45g cocoa powder
- 200g caster sugar
- 175g self raising flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 125ml Fierce Cafe Racer
- 75ml sour cream
- 1 egg, beaten
- 75g mixed dark/white chocolate chips
- For the icing:
- 150g butter
- 350g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp hot coffee (to be added a tsp at a time)
- 1 tbsp Fierce Cafe Racer (to be added a tsp at a time)
- To decorate – chocolate chips and curls or other chocolate toppings.
- Preheat your oven to 170c fan and line a 12 hole muffin tin with cupcake cases.
- Melt the butter in a pan on a gentle heat and set aside.
- Measure and combine all of the dry ingredients apart from the chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the Cafe Racer, to the melted butter and stir to combine. Then whisk in the sour cream and beaten egg.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until fully combined.
- Stir in the chocolate chunks to the mix, then use an icecream scoop to evenly distribute between the 12 cases.
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes. Check the cupcakes are cooked by inserting in a cocktail stick into the cupcake. If it comes out with cupcake mix on it, cook for a further 5 minutes and test again.
- When the cupcakes are cooked, transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
- While the cupcakes are cooling down, make a cup of coffee and leave to cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, mix the butter with 175g of the icing sugar and 1 teaspoon of both the coffee and Cafe Racer porter. Then add the other half of the icing sugar and cream together until completely smooth and creamy.
- Add in a second teaspoon of porter and coffee and combine. If you are a real coffee fan, add in the third and final teaspoon of porter and coffee.
- Once the cupcakes are cold, cover with the buttercream and smooth with a palette knife. Top with chocolate toppings of your choice.
Thanks to Fierce Beer for the samples and Julia Bryce for the bottle photography. All recipe photography is my own.
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