chocolate mocha cupcakes

 here's a little cupcake kickstart to the week!  chocolate + coffee = always a good idea.  i just couldn't help myself with a bag of freshly ground fair-trade/organic beans from our local roastery.  man they know what they're doing over there!  i love how helpful they are when i want to venture out and try a new bean and i especially love that they remember how i like my coffee... ground as fine as physically possible!  that nice fine grind was perfect mixed into a basic chocolate cake recipe.

chocolate mocha cupcakes
makes one dozen

2/3 cup almond milk
1/3 cup brewed coffee (cooled)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup sunflower or canola oil
3/4 cup organic cane sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup organic all purpose flour
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp cocoa
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

preheat your oven to 350'F.  mix together the almond milk and cider vinegar in a large bowl and set aside to curdle a few minutes.  add in the brewed coffee, oil, sugar and vanilla and mix until well combined.  into a separate bowl sift and combine the dry ingredients.   add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth.

spoon the batter into a cupcake tin filled with liners and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  allow the cupcakes to cool completely before icing with chocolate mocha buttercream.

vegan chocolate mocha buttercream
1/2 cup earth balance vegan margarine
2 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp ground coffee
2 tsp almond milk 
2 tps cold brewed coffee (more or less as needed)

whip the earth balance and incorporate the coffee grounds, almond milk and vanilla.  add in the sugar and cold brewed coffee a bit at a time, mixing as you go along until you reach a consistency and flavour you're happy with.  ice your cupcakes and garnish with a coffee bean.

whip up a batch of these enjoy the boost they give you to start your week off right.  or, if it's too hot to turn on the oven today, i just delivered a few dozen of these beauties to bertolo's so you can pick one up for yourself there!