Coffee and Walnut Sponge Mini Cupcakes

Another amazing recipe from Delia Smith. I liked this straight forward recipe using sponge cake method for coffee & walnut. I have made a few modification to this recipe : replacing the topping with cream cheese instead of mascarpone and made into mini cupcakes instead of a whole cake. The result was fantastic! The cream cheese blended well with the cakes, just that the coffee taste wasn't strong enough. I enjoyed creating the decorative toppings and my kids love them. 

I am submitting this post to "Cook like a Star" with this month featured chef Delia Smith, organised by Bake for Happy Kids, Piece of Cake and Eat your heart out. 

This recipe is also listed on Very Good Recipes and adding this to Bake-Along #44-Celebration Cupcakes for Bake-Along 2nd Anniversary.

Recipe adapted from Delia Smith :
(with my modification in blue)

Ingredients

115g self-raising flour
1 level teaspoon baking powder
115g butter (softened)
2 large eggs
100g golden caster sugar (I reduced from 115g)
1 tsp instant espresso coffee powder (can increase to 2tsp)
50g walnuts, chopped finely

Cream Cheese Frosting:
125g cream cheese (room temp)
50g butter (room temp)
50g icing sugar (sifted)
few drops of lemon juice

Directions

1. Sift the flour and baking powder into a roomy mixing bowl, holding the sieve quite high to give the flour a good airing as it goes down.

2. Add the butter, eggs, caster sugar, and coffee powder. Now, using a electric hand whisk, mix to a smooth, creamy consistency for about 1 minute. 

3. Fold in the chopped nuts into the mixture and scoop into fillers. Bake at 170 deg C for 20-25mins or when toothpick comes out clean..

4. To make cream cheese frosting: Mix all the ingredients and beat till well blended (add coloring if desired). Pipe frosting on top of cool cake and add decorative.