Toffee Coffee Cupcakes with Espresso Frosting

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I have a very special post for you today, for two reasons: first, the Diamond Jubilee celebrations are about to start and I decided to get into the spirit with Union Jacks cupcake cases and hand-crafted white/blue/red bunting! The recipe I have chosen is also a British classic: the sticky toffee pudding, but with my own twist!

The other reason to celebrate is that I am through to the next round of the Lavazza Coffee Set Match Bloggers Challenge! Expect more coffee-based recipes in the next few weeks!

- The story behind this recipe –

When I started the Lavazza competition, the first place I looked for coffee recipes was my favourite food blog Smitten Kitchen. I found a recipe for Coffee Toffee and immediately loved the name! Though the recipe didn’t appeal to me much, but a few days later while eating a Sticky Toffee Pudding at The Fish Club I had the idea of mixing the two desserts together!

I researched different toffee pudding recipes (thank you Peaches and Donuts for sending me one!), but I still was not 100% convinced that a coffee toffee pudding covered in caramel sauce could have enough of a coffee kick.

And then, Kate of The Little Loaf posted a recipe for Sticky Toffee Cupcakes and the idea was born for: Toffee Coffee Cupcakes with Espresso Frosting!

As I was completely new to this recipe, I asked Kate for ideas on how to incorporate coffee in the ingredients and she suggested to soak the dates in coffee, instead of water. I also decided not to have a caramel filling and to make an espresso flavoured frosting instead of the caramel one of the original recipe. Finally, I halved the doses to make 12 cupcakes, instead of 24.

The result was outstanding! I am honestly blown away by how good these cupcakes taste! There were so many chances of getting it wrong as the recipe involves multiples bowls and several stages and hours of work. I did actually mess up with the doses of vanilla essence and bicarbonate of soda, a I used a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon, but luckily the cupcakes were not affected by my mistake! ;)

Toffee Coffee Cupcakes with Espresso Frosting
Adapted from The Little Loaf

Ingredients

For the cake mix
50ml coffee
145g dates, pitted and roughly chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g unsalted butter, softened
120g Muscovado sugar
145g self-raising flour, sifted
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 small free-range eggs
70g walnuts, chopped

For the sugar syrup
50ml water
50ml caster sugar

For the frosting
100g full fat cream cheese
100g unsalted butter
250g icing sugar, sifted
50ml espresso

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 175 °C. Line two 12-hole muffin trays with cupcake liners.

For the cakes
Remove the pit from the dates and chop them roughly, place them in a bowl and pour over the hot coffee. Leave to soak for 20 minutes until the coffee is fully absorbed, then add the vanilla extract.

Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a separate bowl and set aside.

Whisk the eggs lightly in a bowl and slowly combine with the butter and sugar mixture.

Once all the egg is incorporated, fold in the remaining flour followed by the soaked dates and chopped walnuts. Stir until the batter is just combined then divide between the cupcake cases (filling only 2/3 of the paper cups).

Bake for 15′ until the tops are golden brown and remove from the oven.

For the sugar syrup
Bring the sugar and water to the boil in a small pan, then simmer until all the sugar crystals have dissolved.

When the cakes are out of the oven and still warm, brush the sugar syrup over the tops. Leave the cupcakes to cool down for at least one hour before adding the frosting.

For the frosting
Beat the cream cheese in a mixing bowl until light and creamy. Beat the butter and icing sugar in a separate mixing bowl until very pale and fluffy.

Add the cream cheese to the butter and sugar mixture a little at a time until combined. Slowly add the coffee – you can play with the quantities here, depending on your preferences on taste and colour. Beat until combined, then chill until set.

To frost the cupcakes, fill a piping bag fitted with a round nozzle and pipe a swirl of frosting on each cupcake. Decorate with coffee beans or by sprinkling ground coffee over the frosting.

Store them in the fridge and serve them at room temperature.

To be in with a chance to win one the fantastic Lavazza Wimbledon prizes look out for promotional cups on take away Lavazza coffees, or enter online at Lavazza Coffee Set Match. Prizes include six pairs of tickets to Wimbledon, 90 Lavazza A Modo Mio Favola Plus Wimbledon Limited Edition coffee machines and 500 sets of four exclusive espresso cups created especially for the tournament.

Pitt Cue Co.

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After months of postponing, the day finally arrived for me to try the most famous American-style BBQ joint in London, Pitt Cue Co.

Opened in January by chef Tom Adams and his friend Jamie Berger, Pitt Cue has already reached cult status, for its fantastic meat as much as for its long queues. With only 30 covers and a no-reservation policy, it’s no surprise that it takes 1-2 hours on average to sit in the tiny Soho restaurant.

There are ways to beat the crowd: for dinner, arrive before their opening time at 6pm or alternatively get there after 9pm! Anything in between, and you will be spending a long time standing outside the door or inside at the bar.

I planned a foodie meet-up with three bloggers: Selina of Yummy Choo Eats, Katy of Feel Good Food Book and Laura of The Writing Type. In the queue on Newburgh Street, we also randomly met James and Louis of The Pizza Pilgrims, who entertained us during the 2-hour wait for a table!

The pilgrims introduced us to the Pickle Back, a two shot drink of bourbon and pickle brine. Sounds disgusting? Surprisingly it isn’t…thought it didn’t leave me longing for a second round either! :)

After the shots, I moved on to the beer: deciding against the “Whatever” draught beer, I ordered a Kernel pale ale.

Around 8pm we got seats by the window. Chatting and sharing food is not easy when you are sitting in a line facing a window, but then a table downstairs meant an even longer wait so we decided against it. Besides, it was the first warm and dry evening of the summer and I wouldn’t have liked sitting in the dark basement.

We ordered different meats to share: Pulled Pork, Beef Brisket, Pork Ribs – all served with house pickles and grilled sourdough bread. On the side, we ordered Burnt End Mash, Baked Beans, Chipotle Slaw and Deep-fried Shiitake Mushrooms.

Cooked for 12 hours, the melt-in-your-mouth pulled pork was unanimously voted the best dish, but everything else was also incredibly tender, juicy and perfectly grilled.

You will struggle to find a food critic or blogger that has not yet spoken about Pitt Cue Co. My favourite write-up is by Grade Dent, who managed to write an enthusiastic review while at the same time comparing Pitt Cue to a Venezuelan prison!

Her colourful descriptions and the promise of leaving the restaurant covered in BBQ sauce made me want to go there even more!

The average Pitt Cue diner when I visited was mid-twenties, male and part of a group deliciously lost in a carnivorous ‘Um, meat, drippy sauce, ribbbbbs, taste GUD!’-type man trance [...] I ate my sausage in a sweet brioche bun with a side of bone-marrow mash and Cajun slaw, washed down with a woozy-making ‘hard lemonade’, while sitting crammed into an alcove with my head inches from a brick wall and one elbow in the pulled pork of a male stranger. [Grace Dent for ES Magazine]

For a top review of the meat, then head over to Burger Anarchy: these guys know all about BBQ meat, having recently been to one of the world’s best, Franklin’s in Texas (you can see a blurred Franklin’s T-shirt in the “Whatever” photo above!).

Despite the sense of Americana that the array of bourbon, PBR, and boilermakers might imbue, Pitt Cue isn’t really American. [...] If anything, it’s the Downton Abbey of BBQ – all the same ridiculous drama of Dallas, but anglicised and refined. Smoke and meat are the stars here, not sugar and gloopy sauces. [Simon & Rob for Burger Anarchy]

At the end, I still had some space to try the yummy Snickers Mess: a gooey feast of vanilla ice cream, meringue, chocolate, salted caramel, peanuts and a big putty-like brownie base [Adam Layton for Noshable].
Pitt Cue Co. was already a sensation last summer when selling ribs from a trailer pitched on the Southbank and is coming back on the wheels from June 8th, so don’t miss it!

Roast Sunday with Ben Spalding

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Do you remember when I blogged about Burger Monday last month? Daniel Young of Young & Foodish has just launched a new series of events called Roast Sunday. I managed to book a ticket for the first sitting and I am here now to share my photos and impressions with you!

The chef of Roast Sunday is Ben Spalding, former head chef of Roganic.

Ben has been working on different menus for the three events (May 20th, May 27th & June 10th), so each Roast Sunday is unique and worth trying!

“We will be using the very best meat in the country for Roast Sunday, I am going to be spending a lot of time sourcing the ingredients near my home in Kent, spending some time on the farms to ensure they know the exact quality I need for these events.” [Ben Spalding for Hot Dinners]

The pop-up lunch is held at Bea’s Diner in Druid Street, Bermondsey. Located inside an arch underneath the railway, the diner is a bare space with white walls and long tables with wooden benches.

As I arrived at Bea’s, I was greeted by Daniel who directed me towards the back, through the arch, past the kitchen and into Maltby Street. The street is gated and only open on Saturdays during the market hours, so on Sunday the street becomes a private courtyard, looking nice with the Jubilee bunting and God Save The Queen banner!

Around 12:30 we were invited in and shown our seats. I knew Little Miss Random from a previous event so I was happy to sit next to her and her boyfriend Toby.

Then it arrived: a Prime Rib of Angus Beef with Fern Carrots glazed in maple syrup & sesame seeds, Roast Potatoes in beef dripping, Buttered Pearl Barley, Minted Peas in salted butter, Creamed Spring Cabbage and a giant Yorkshire Pudding. On the side, beef gravy and wild horseradish sauce.

The beef, sourced from O’Shea’s Butchers, was rigorously served pink, as stated on the menu. 39 kilos of prime rib (off the bone) were consumed on the day!

An impromptu gravy-chugging competition took place during lunch! I can see how they used up 88 litres of gravy throughout the three sittings! ;)

As our empty plates disappeared in front of our eyes, big pots of Bramley Apple & Rhubarb Crumble appeared on the tables with a thick Cinnamon Cream to pour over. I loved the idea of leaving the puddings on the table for people to share!

As I was finishing the dessert, more people started to arrive for the 2pm sitting, so I didn’t indulge too long in conversations and left the table for the staff to clear up. I didn’t mind as I was on a very tight schedule that day: a few hours later I was at Discover Abruzzo Supperclub!

The new menu for Roast Sunday on June 10th is out! Book you ticket fast!

Affogato with Amaretto di Saronno

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This week’s recipe for the Lavazza Coffee Set Match blogger challenge is an original twist to the Affogato al Caffè. Super easy to make and perfect for summer days, it is a great dessert idea for your next dinner party!

Ingredients

* Vanilla Ice-cream (I used Clotted Cream ice-cream which is my current obsession!)
* 1 espresso shot
* 2 tsp Amaretto di Saronno
* 3 amaretti biscuits

Preparation

I made the espresso using Lavazza A Modo Mio machine and a capsule of Dolcemente Caffè Crema. This is a well rounded, balanced and creamy blend, which worked well with the almond and cream flavours of my affogato. Go for the decaf if you are having this dessert after dinner, or else it’ll keep you awake all night!

Scoop out the ice-cream from the box and into a glass. Don’t use a ceramic bowl: the beauty of this dessert is to see the different layers and colours!

Crumble the amaretti biscuits over the ice-cream. Pour the liquor – as much as you like! I try to limit myself to a couple of teaspoons.

Leave the coffee at last: it has to be poured hot, but it will melt the ice-cream quickly, so make sure you have all the other ingredients already in place.

Serve it immediately and enjoy!

Coffee & Amaretto Cake

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Today has been a sugar-filled day, starting with custard doughnuts and buttermilk pancakes at Maltby Street (more about that soon!) and finishing with a cake I baked for the Lavazza Coffee Set Match challenge.

Using this recipe (in Italian only), I have made a Coffee & Amaretto Cake which is perfect to have for breakfast with a good coffee!

I am a big fan of “amaretti”, almond flavoured macaroons traditional to Saronno in the north of Italy, and often use them as ingredient for desserts. They can be found in London in Italian shops or online at Nifeislife.

This recipe was very easy to make and can be adapted to your taste, replacing the amaretti with chocolate biscuits for example.

Ingredients

* 3 eggs
* 150g butter
* 150g white sugar
* 300g plain flour
* 180ml milk
* 3/4 lievito Pane degli Angeli (equals to 12gr baking powder)
* 100g amaretti
* 100ml coffee

Preparation

In a bowl, mix the eggs and the sugar, beating them with an electric whisk. Melt the butter and keep it on the side to cool down.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder. Then add the milk, the egg/sugar mixture and the melted butter. Whisk until you have removed all the lumps.

Pre-heat the oven to 160 °C. Grease a cake pan and pour half of the cake batter. Dip the amaretti in the coffee and line them over the cake.

Pour the rest of the batter over the biscuits. Bake for 30 minutes. Tip: decorate the cake with icing sugar.


The Stock Market

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Following the success of their test run last December, The Stock MKT was back in Bermondsey Square, SE1 on Friday 27th April, and I was there to take the official photos of the event!





Located just 10 minutes walk from Borough station, Bermondsey Square already hosts a famous antiques fair every Friday. The area was regenerated in 2009 to include apartments, restaurants and a boutique hotel and it is in this setting that the Stock MKT takes place.

As well as some of London’s best food stalls, you can find vintage clothes, arts and crafts, with the soundtrack of live music played by Albert Ball’s Flying Aces.


The weather gods looked after us on the night and gave us a break of sunshine after a month of endless rain! I arrived before sunset, the food stalls still warming up their ovens and grills, people beginning to gather in the square.

I spent a few hours taking photos and chatting to the sellers and to the many Twitter friends I bumped into. By the time I decided to get some food, around 8:30pm, there were LONG queues everywhere! Even worst, the Pizza Pilgrims had sold out! This was very disappointing for my parents, who really wanted to try the pilgrims’ pizza (luckily they were able to do so a few days later at Berwick Street Market).


We queued for more than 30 minutes at Bhangra Burger, worried that the food would be over by the time we reached the stall. Luckily we were able to buy their juicy burger wrap, served with homemade chutney and pickles. It was delicious and very spicy! The Bhangra Burgers made miracles of producing more food whenever it seemed they were running out of it and they eventually fed everyone in the queue!

In the meantime, Sandy managed to grab a vegetarian platter from Horn OK Please. I love their Aloo Dosa, sadly they had run out of it, so we tried the Bhel Puri and Pani Puri instead. With extra chilli especially for Sandy – his Indian taste buds required something stronger than the English customers! ;)

For dessert, I bought two of my favourite cheesecakes from the Sweet Tooth Factory. I love Kaelie’s cakes and I couldn’t let my parents leave London without trying them!



As you can imagine, I was pretty stuffed after all this food, but I simply could not resist trying Bea’s of Bloomsbury deep-fried Valrhona brownie on a stick!

Deep-fried brownie, you say? Yes, I know, it sounds as bad as the deep-fried Mars bar you find in Edinburgh, but NO, it is not bad at all. It is actually delicious: a moist chocolate heart with a meringue coating covered in melted vanilla ice-cream and hot caramel sauce. I do love Bea’s of Bloomsbury for making this!



Among the food and drinks on offer at The Stock MKT, there was also:

Kamm & Sons and their cocktail trolley-bike.

The famous Big Apple Hot Dogs by Abiye Cole.

New entry in the street food scene: the Kebab Kitchen by James Ramsden and Oliver Thring.

Pom Pom Japanese dumplings: I am actually gutted I didn’t manage to try these before they sold out! :(

The Egg Boss of Brockley Market’s fame.

Pretty cupcakes by the Yummy Boutique.

The Stock MKT at Bermondsey Square has got new dates lined up in June, August, September and November and it will also be ‘on tour’ in other London locations in 2012.

Tiramisù Pots with Speculoos Biscuits

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To celebrate the second anniversary of Lavazza being the “Official Coffee of the Wimbledon Championships”, the coffee brand has launched the Lavazza Coffee Set Match blogger challenge and I’ve been invited to participate! :) So expect many coffee-based recipes to be featured on Mondomulia over the next few weeks.

To kick off this challenge, I’ve prepared one of my specialties – the Tiramisù – with a twist of Speculoos caramelized biscuits! For an authentic tiramisù, you have to use Savoiardi or sponge biscuits, which are perfect to soak the coffee without crumbling. However, I am a big fan of Speculoos in all its forms and I think they work perfectly in a tiramisù, adding a crunchy texture and cinnamon flavour!

Ingredients

* 5 free range eggs
* 200gr sponge biscuits
* 100gr caramelized biscuits
* 5 tbsp white sugar
* 500g of Mascarpone cheese
* 3 cups of coffee
* Martini Bianco
* Chocolate powder

Preparation

Break the eggs and separate the yellows from the whites. Mix the yolks with the sugar using an electric whisk until you have a creamy mixture. Add the mascarpone and blend together.

In a separate bowl, mix the egg whites with a pinch of salt, until they become foamy and airy. Don’t overwork it or else the mixture will become too liquid. Fold (do not stir) the whites in the cream using a spatula.

Make the coffee using your preferred method. I used Lavazza Tierra coffee and a small Bialetti mocha pot. Prepare 3 cups of coffee, make more as you go along if you want to add more layers. Pour the coffee in a bowl and leave to cool down.

Use a glass cake dish or small pots (I used both!), it needs to have tall sides to allow for multiple layers. One at the time, dip the biscuits in the coffee (just once on each side), gently squeeze the liquid out, being careful not to crumble the biscuit. Cover the cake dish with the biscuits, laid side by side. Splash drops of Martini Bianco over the biscuits, then spread the cream over.

Create a new layer of biscuits dipped in coffee, splash with Martini, spread cream on top. Repeat one more time (I usually make three layers of biscuits + cream).

Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge overnight. Before serving, sift chocolate powder over the cake.

To be in with a chance to win one the fantastic Lavazza Wimbledon prizes look out for promotional cups on take away Lavazza coffees, or enter online at Lavazza Coffee Set Match. Prizes include six pairs of tickets to Wimbledon, 90 Lavazza A Modo Mio Favola Plus Wimbledon Limited Edition coffee machines and 500 sets of four exclusive espresso cups created especially for the tournament.