Vanilla Latte Cupcakes

By Joelene

Note: I like to sprinkle with raw sugar and espresso candies as garnish. And if I have some on hand I will top with a chocolate-covered coffee bean. You can skip the pudding addition to the topping if serving soon. The pudding helps stabilize the whipped cream and it lasts a week or longer if you use it, plus the white chocolate flavor adds a nice creamy flavor. This frosted cupcake also freezes very well!

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups cake flour
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons instant coffee
• 1/3 cup hot water
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract works as well)
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 3 cups whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons white chocolate instant pudding

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 325F. Line 24 to 30 cups of cupcake pans with liners.
Sift together flours, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. On low speed, add butter, mixing until butter is well coated with flour.
In a measuring cup or small bowl, add coffee to hot water and stir to dissolve. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla, half-and-half. Whisk in coffee.
Add wet ingredients to flour mixture, one-third at a time, scraping bowl before each addition. Beat until ingredients are incorporated, but don’t over mix. Fill liners two-thirds full.
Bake 17 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean with just a couple crumbs. Let cool in pans 10 minutes, then remove to racks to cool completely.
When cupcakes are completely cool, make frosting. Place cream, coffee and powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl and mix with a mixer on low speed until coffee dissolves. Mix on medium high-high speed until mixture starts to thicken, then add instant pudding and continue mixing until stiff peaks form.
Spread or pipe frosting onto cupcakes.