Mocha Cupcakes with Whipped Cream

Tea or coffee is a part of our social being. It is customary to offer a cup of tea or coffee to guests when they visit your home. Offering tea as refreshment is a common practice in my maternal place also. In our family, everyone except me is habitual to drinking tea. My elder sister and elder brother both had started drinking tea from a tender age. But somehow I remained impervious to the habit. Neither tea nor coffee ever appealed to me. Rather I prefer juice or shakes.

My husband loves drinking tea but he quenches his tea desire only at office. So in our home, there is no jar of tea on the kitchen shelf which surprises many especially people into the habit of having tea timely at home. Infact, when guests visit our home for the first time, many unknown to the fact that I don't drink tea find it rude when I don't offer them any. The thought of offering someone a cup of tea or coffee skips my mind due to my being unused to it. However, after coming down to US, I now store a jar of instant coffee powder at home primarily out of the need to mix it with henna to boost the color while applying the same on my hair and secondarily, to prepare luscious mocha cakes and muffins.

The second purpose seems to have more practical use than the first one as these days I am up to experimenting with a lot of mocha recipes. A few recipes are in the pipeline to be uploaded in my blog. Once I return from our New York trip starting from tomorrow, I will surely upload them one after another at leisure. 

Ingredients:                                            Cooking time: 35-45 minutes approx. ü  2 cups all-purpose flour (480ml) ü  1 heaped cup granulated sugar (240ml) or more as per your craving ü  2 tbsp cocoa powder ü  2 tbsp instant espresso coffee powder ü  3/4 cup butter ü  1 cup water ü  2 tbsp honey ü  3 tbsp milk ü  1 egg, beaten ü  1 tsp baking soda Topping: ü  1 cup whipping cream (240 ml) ü  Cocoa powder, for dusting Method: 1) Place butter, sugar, honey, coffee powder and water together in a pot and heat gently, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer for 5 minutes on low heat. When done, cool it down to room temperature. 2) In another bowl, beat eggs and milk together to smooth consistency. Toss the dry ingredients together including flour, cocoa powder and baking soda in another mixing bowl. Gently fold the egg mixture into it. 3) Then little by little pour the coffee mixture into the flour and combine well until no speck of flour remains visible. 4) Pre-heat oven to 350 F/180 C. Spoon the batter into greased muffin molds. 5) Bake the cupcakes for 20-25 minutes till a toothpick poked at the centre comes out clean. 6) For the topping, whip the cream in a bowl until it holds its shape. Just before serving, spoon tablespoonful of cream on top of each cupcakes and then dust lightly with cocoa powder. 7) Enjoy.