I love baking so much that when I was looking for a job, one of the things I looked forward to most about being employed was baking cupcakes for my co-workers. Since I work later at the conservatory on Wednesday's I used this morning to whip up a batch of sumthin' sumthin' for the gardeners and administration staff. I was originally planning on making mocha cupcakes, but to my disappointment, I noticed that I didn't have any cocoa powder while in the middle of my recipe. I switched gears and decided to make some vanilla cupcakes even though I didn't have any vanilla extract (my baking staples are extremely lacking considering that I like to bake so much). I was thinking about just making a vanilla buttercream, but thanks to Gwen's persuasiveness, I decided to make a coffee buttercream.
This picture definitely emphasizes my kitchy canisters and spice jars instead of the cupcake...this was not an accident.
Ok, that's better.
I made up the coffee buttercream by mixing 1/4 c. each of vegetable shortening and ebal with a bunch of powdered sugar and some leftover coffee from this morning. I then added a lot of coffee grounds to intensify the flavor. They were a complete hit and I'm happy to say that my cupcake carrier survived the cta.
