Frappuchino cupcakes

Mocha coffee cake with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream, dusted with cinnamon.

This cupcake came together rather on a whim, because I had a bottle of mocha frappuchino from a coffee shop chain that shall remain nameless. But I didn't feel like drinking it. So, what to do? Naturally, we make it into a cupcake.

I used a normal cake batter recipe, except I poured in mocha frappuchino instead of milk:


I also mixed in some instant coffee crystals (which dissolved nicely) to add extra coffee flavor to the batter.

After all that is mixed in:


Filling the baking cups:


While the cupcakes were baking, I made a Swiss meringue buttercream. I've tried making a Swiss meringue buttercream before, but I was disappointed when all I got was a curdled soup. I tried again, this time making sure that all the sugar dissolved into the egg whites before whipping them. I also whipped the butter separately before adding it to the meringue.


It worked! It came out a lot better this time.

Mid-decorating:


I topped the whole thing with a dusting of cinnamon, and there you go. A frappuchino cupcake.


The coffee flavor didn't come out as strongly as I would've liked, so next time, I'm going to add even more instant coffee. But tasty, nonetheless. :)