Mocha Coffee Cakes
from https://www.cuisineathome.com/

With coffee and chocolate, these cakes are a real pick-me-up. The bittersweet flavoring is sure to complement your morning cup of coffee. These are made in muffin tins for single-serve cakes.

For the topping, combine:
¼ cup chocolate-covered espresso beans, chopped
¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

For the filling, process:
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup chocolate-covered espresso beans
3 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
4 oz. bittersweet bar chocolate, chopped

For the cake, whisk:
3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. table salt
½ tsp. baking soda

Beat:
2 sticks unsalted butter (16 Tbsp.), softened
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 ⅔ cups sugar
3 eggs

Stir:
½ cup hot brewed coffee
1 Tbsp. instant espresso powder
1 ½ cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350°. Coat three 6-cup popover or muffin pans with nonstick spray.

For the topping, combine chopped espresso beans and chocolate chips; set aside.

For the filling, process sugar, espresso beans, cocoa, and chopped chocolate in a food processor until sandy.

For the cake, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a bowl.

Beat butter and vanilla with a mixer in a bowl until smooth.

With mixer running, gradually beat in sugar until light and fluffy and all sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs.

Stir together coffee and espresso powder, then stir into buttermilk. Alternately mix flour mixture and buttermilk mixture into creamed mixture (starting and ending with flour) just to combine.

Scoop batter with a #30 scoop (2 Tbsp.) into each prepared cup. Top batter with 1 heaping tsp. filling and a second scoop of batter. Combine remaining filling with topping and sprinkle on cakes. Bake cakes until a toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean, 17–20 minutes. Let cakes cool in pans, 30 minutes, then loosen edges and remove.

18 single-serve cakes