Espresso Mocha Cupcakes with Whipped Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

Just how good does the title sound?! Well it's pretty much as good as they were. A nurse on one of the floors mentioned to me that I should make mocha cupcakes, and I told her that I really don't like the taste of coffee and chocolate together. But I had just bought my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer and wanted to make something with it. So I thought of using my espresso maker (since I like how espresso tastes, not coffee for some reason, except Starbucks and the Dunkin Donuts I lived off of in college.. but anyways) and making a caramel espresso cupcake, but instead I made whipped caramel cream cheese frosting.

1-1/3 all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk
2 shots of espresso (about 1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 egg


1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Make espresso and set aside to cool to room temperature.
2. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Beat the butter and both sugars together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and beat until combined. In a measuring cup, combine the milk, espresso and vanilla. Slowly add the flour mixture, alternating with the coffee mixture, ending with the flour mixture.
4. Pour batter into cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Baking for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cool.

I actually messed up my original plan for caramel cream cheese frosting but after I added the caramel flavoring to it, it was too runny for cupcakes so I made a batch of real whipped cream and folded that into it - a great decision by me.

1/2 stick butter unsalted, at room temperature
6 oz cream cheese (3/4 of a 8oz block), softened
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp caramel syrup flavoring (I had some as a coffee flavorer, maybe ice cream caramel would work?)
10 oz heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup confectioners sugar

1. Mix together cream cheese, butter, caramel and vanilla until smooth. Slowly add confectioners sugar until a frosting is formed. Set a side.
2. Whip whipping cream and granulated sugar until stiff (tip the bowl over and it won't fall out)
3. Fold in caramel frosting into whipped cream, if still runny add more confectioners sugar and mix on low.