White Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes – take two
This month’s Cupcake Hero theme is Coffee in honor of host Laurie’s husband Jaos and his upcoming birthday (Happy Birthday Jaos!) I heard that one of their favorite treats at Starbucks is a white chocolate mocha. I already took one shot at a white chocolate mocha cupcake. I wasn’t happy with the white-chocolate-mochaness of it, so here’s my second try.
These cupcakes definitely taste like a white chocolate mocha. The cake is similar to an angel food cake with espresso powder in the batter. They have a subtle coffee flavor. I added some espresso over the top of the cupcakes to keep them moist and intensify the coffee flavor.
The white chocolate mousse didn’t bring enough white chocolate flavor to the table, so I also added a small layer of melted white chocolate. After quite a few different tries, this combination hit the white-chocolate-mocha flavor I was searching for. Hubby and I both couldn’t stop eating them!
Coffee Cupcakes – makes 30 – from Crazy about Cupcakes
12 large egg whites, cold
3 Tbsp espresso, at room temperature
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp ground espresso beans
1/2 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 325. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.
In a large bowl combine the egg whites, espresso, lemon juice, cream of tartar, vanilla, and almond extract. With an electric mixer on high speed, beat until mixture is foamy with tiny bubbles, 2-3 minutes. Gradually add 3/4 cup of the sugar until the foam is creamy white. Do not overbeat.
In a separate bowl combin 3/4 cup sugar, flour, ground espresso beans, and salt.
Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Gently mix with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until completely integrated.
Fill the cupcake liners three-quarters full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan. 
White Chocolate Mousse – from FoodNetwork.com
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
5 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup egg whites (from about 4 eggs)
2 tablespoons sugar
In a small saucepan, heat the cream over medium heat just until it boils.
Immediately turn off the heat. Place the chocolate in a medium bowl. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Strain into another bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, remove the mixture from the refrigerator and, using a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or a hand mixer, whip it into fluffy, soft peaks. Return to the refrigerator.
In a clean dry bowl, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form, then add the sugar and continue whipping until glossy and stiff, about 30 seconds more. Fold into the white chocolate mixture.
To assemble cupcakes:
Poke holes into the cupcakes with a fork or toothpick. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of room temperature espresso on top of each cupcake.
Melt 8 ounces of white chocolate in a double boiler. Spread about 1 teaspoon of white chocolate on top of the cupcakes.
Using a small cookie scoop or a piping bag, scoop the mousse on top of the white chocolate.
Garnish with white chocolate curls and sprinkle with cinnamon.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Instant kill for salmonella is 160 degrees so please be safe and heat your egg whites to that temp. It only takes a couple more minutes to be safe. I am shocked that epicurious printed this recipe at only 140.
Almost all swiss meringue buttercream call for it to be heated to 140. Unlike the yolks, the whites have a Ph level that is too high to sustain salmonella. I am certified for food safety/handling.
Dear Terry-
Educate yourself before giving advice. Eggs whites beaten with sugar are denatured by the sugar, making them perfectly safe to eat. There is no need to heat them except where the recipe calls for it. Stop being an online fear monger.
Source: Any high school chemistry class
Hi,
I’m very curious about SMBC and would like to try it. Do you think it will work with a hand mixer? Kindly advise. Thank you. 🙂
beantownbaker — June 10th, 2013 @ 1:04 pm
I have never used a hand mixer to make it, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Let me know how it turns out if you do try it.
Jen – have you ever tried a cream cheese Swiss meringue frosting? Other recipes seem similar to this, although the best looking ones I saw in a quick search were in metric units (grams), which seemed confusing. They seem to follow a similar procedure, but adding chunks of cream cheese after the butter is fully incorporated. Considering giving this recipe a whirl (so to speak!) by substituting Hal the butter w/ cream cheese, but was curious whether you thought that nigh work. Thanks.
beantownbaker — June 16th, 2013 @ 1:01 pm
I have never heard of cream cheese SMBC. But I love both frostings, so a combination of the two sounds devine. I think your approach could work. Definitely let me know how it turns out!
I tried your Swiss meringue buttercream today. It was amazing! I had no problem with it at all, except that I didn’t have a candy thermometer. (Oops!) However, I did use a meat thermometer, to get an estimate. I heated the egg-sugar mixture until it was hot to the touch, and there was no sugar crystals when I rubbed my two fingers together. It turned out fine. I beat the egg whites until it was ribbon-like. So yummy! I’m about to frost some vanilla cupcakes with it.
beantownbaker — June 25th, 2013 @ 5:38 pm
So glad you didn’t have any problems with this recipe!
I want to frost the cake well before the party. Should I store the frosted cake in the fridge? Will it hold up overnight? Thanks in advance for your insight!
beantownbaker — August 22nd, 2013 @ 2:38 pm
I would store it in the fridge overnight, then let it come to room temperature for about an hour before serving. This frosting gets a little too firm in the fridge for me, so I always let it come to room temp before eating.
I tried your SMBC with a hand mixer.. and it turned out great. However I only put half of the butter as to what the recipe calls due to lack of butter at home.. It still tasted buttery though and still yummy. anyways thanks for this. Will make this for sure next time!
beantownbaker — November 24th, 2013 @ 5:54 pm
Glad to hear this worked out for you.
I just found this post and gave it a try. I wondered, do you use this only as a frosting to cup cakes or would you also use it as a substitute for ganache and does it set up under fondant. TIA
beantownbaker — February 23rd, 2014 @ 8:45 pm
I haven’t used it under fondant. If you do try it, let me know how it goes.
Hi:
Wondering if it work if I don’t use the paddle, (which I don’t have one) my mixer only comes with wire whip? Do you have any idea or suggestion on how can I give a grey/silver colour to the buttercream?
Thanks.
beantownbaker — April 27th, 2014 @ 2:52 pm
I don’t see why it wouldn’t work… For the coloring, I’d get some gel food coloring for the frosting. Hope it goes well for you!
Tried this recipe for the first time a few days ago, I was so sick of gloppy oversweet and gritty “American” style buttercream and needed a change. This recipe was very easy to follow, I also did not have a candy thermometer, but the first time I made it just using the sight and touch method, worked flawlessly, the second time I made it, just yesterday I used an IR non-contact thermometer and it worked out just as well. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this recipe, it tastes delicious and is extremely user friendly. I have received so many compliments on it. Thank you so much for sharing!
beantownbaker — September 2nd, 2014 @ 7:02 pm
So glad you enjoyed this recipe. I agree, American buttercream can just be too sweet. I love making this Swiss meringue buttercream.
Hi! I started using SMBC recently so have made it only 5 times. The first two times it worked like a charm. The other 3 times it was a flop. I live at 5500′ feet so in order to get the egg whites and sugar to 170 degrees F, I cooked it for about 15 mins until the egg whites were sticking to the side of the bowl. Could this be the reason the egg whites didn’t double?
Would really appreciate some help in ‘conquering’ this problem!!
Thanks!
This really looks lovely!
Can i color or add tint to this? Which should I use, oil based food color, gel, or will any food color do? I’d love to try this! Thank ahead 😀
can you double this if you were doing a bigger cake or more cupcakes??