Caramel Mocha Brownies

I was overcome by a desire to bake something last Sunday afternoon. After pushing around various food items in my pantry for several minutes, I decided that I had all the ingredients for brownies. Then, because I love coffee, I decided to make them mocha brownies. Then I decided to throw in some caramel. Usually, my baking projects are well thought-out far ahead of time. These brownies...not so much.

Espresso Savarin (Daring Bakers' Challenge)

Has it really been a month since my last post?!  Bad blogger!  Well, Mr. Buttercream and I are still getting settled in the new house (we're still missing some key bits of furniture) - that's my only excuse.

This month's challenge was to make Savarin, a yeasted cake that is really more of a bread.  The cake itself is pretty much all-bread, and it is then soaked in a sweet syrup and filled with something delicious. I decided to soak my Savarin in a espresso-cinnamon syrup, and fill with an espresso pastry creme.

Natalia of Gatti Fili e Farina challenges us to make a traditional Savarin, complete with soaking syrup and cream filling! We were to follow the Savarin recipe but were allowed to be creative with the soaking syrup and filling, allowing us to come up with some very delicious cakes!

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes

Starbucks is serving Pumpkin Spice Lattes (ermahgerd!).  I guess that means it's officially fall.  In the spirit of the season, and because I had a serious craving for latte cupcakes, I decided to create a cupcake version of this tasty autumn beverage.  The cupcakes are filled with a delicious from-scratch pumpkin spice butter, which is also featured in the buttercream alongside dark brown sugar.

Cinnamon Latte Cupcakes

Every morning, I walk to work, go to my favorite coffee place, and nod my head in affirmation to the barista's question, "You want your regular?".  My regular is a double tall latte with lots of cinnamon.  The coffee house that I go to has a special name for this - it's called a Caffé Viennese.

Whenever I make coffee at home, I'll also dust some cinnamon on top.  I got a craving for coffee cupcakes the other morning, and decided to make some - topped with cinnamon frosting of course.