Did you know that when you add coffee into your baking, it holds the ability to enhance the taste of chocolates? I, for one, did not know this fact.
It was on one fateful Sunday afternoon when my wife felt the need to be productive that she decided to whip up a fresh batch of cupcakes to bring into her office the following day.
With my close-to-nothing knowledge on baking, I decided to tag along and busy myself with her in the kitchen to see the magic happen.
We rummaged through the pantry to look for ingredients available to determine what cupcakes we would end up with that day, and to my surprise, it was as long as you have the basic ingredients like eggs, flour, butter and milk, you’re all good – but, then again, I might just be simplifying a few things.
Based on the ingredients we had on hand, the cupcake of the day was a salted caramel drizzled butter cream cupcake.
We got to it by first working on the base.
My wife showed me that for this, we needed:
– Two eggs
– 110 grammes (g) of vegetable oil
– 140g all-purpose plain flour
– 185g caster sugar
– Half a tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda
After mixing the earlier ingredients together, my wife then added into the batter:
– 25 millilitres (ml) of hot coffee
– 125ml buttermilk
– A quarter teaspoon of salt
– 35g of chocolate chips
– 35g of cocoa powder
With a raised eyebrow, I said to my wife, “Coffee? Salt?”
An air of confidence rose from within my wife as she looked me in the eye and replied, “Don’t judge me. Trust me, the salt and coffee will enhance the flavour.”
Knowing that it’s another battle I would not win, I let her continue on as I stepped aside and lent a hand whenever she needed me to.
When the batter was fully mixed, it was time to pour it into individual paper cups and placing the whole tray into our preheated oven at 160 degrees Celsius.
While the cupcake base was baking, it was time to prep the buttercream. All we needed for that were:
– 200g of soft unsalted butter
– 290g of icing sugar
– A quarter tablespoon of salt
Mix all the ingredients until it becomes frothy and add more sugar according to your preferred taste.
Lastly, it was time for the sweet and rich salted caramel sauce. For this we needed:
– 225g caster sugar
– 150g double cream
– 75g of cold butter
– Half a tablespoon of salt
– Half a tablespoon of vanilla extract
With the ring of the oven’s bell and all the pieces of the cupcake puzzle ready, the last length of the cupcake journey was my favourite. It was time to assemble these babies.
My first attempt was a failure as the cupcake base was still piping hot. This resulted with a side-eye and an “I told you so” by my baking veteran wife.
After several tries, I made my very own cupcake. Although sloppy, it was mine, covered in a thick layer of butter cream and drenched in the salted caramel drizzle.
Sinking in my teeth and taking that first bite, I learned not to question my wife’s baking skills ever again. The explosion to my sense as I tasted each of the major ingredients, all working together and not over powering each other, blissful flavourful consistency in every bite, was a huge eye-opener for me.
All in all, it was a wonderful experience and I can add “can almost bake a cupcake from scratch on my own” onto my list of accomplishments. – Adib Noor
