Gluten Free Mocha cupcakes with Espresso Buttercream Frosting

My husband loves coffee flavored anything. It seemed that the time has come for me to make a GF coffee dessert. I had Pamela's chocolate cake mix and thought I would play around with additional ingredients to kick it up a notch. I really like Pamela's cake mixes so far. The have all been a total win for me.

Ingredients:

• Pamela's GF Chocolate cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 C vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 C of strong coffee (to which I added 4 1/2 tsp of instant espresso powder. Make sure its room temperature and not overly hot)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix all the items together. Be careful to not over mix. Pour batter into a pre-lined cupcake pan.

Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes (depending on your oven)

Espresso Frosting Ingredients:

• 2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 1/2 C of powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla
• 1 1/2 tsp of instant espresso
• 1 tsp of heavy whipping cream

1. Mix the espresso powder into the vanilla until dissolved; set aside.

2. Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping once to scrape the sides of the bowl. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the powdered sugar a little at a time, waiting until it is mostly incorporated before adding more. Once all of the powdered sugar has been added, scrape the sides of the bowl and increase the speed to medium-high and whip until fluffy, about a minute or two. Add the espresso and vanilla mixture and continue to mix at medium-high until it is completely incorporated, scraping the sides as necessary. Add the heavy whipping cream and mix at medium-high for a minute.

Bon Appetit