Delicious, soft, crumbly muffiny concoctions here, with a splodge of coffee icing. I enjoyed them a lot – more coffee flavour next time though.

Mocha cupcakes (makes about 12):

250ml water

250g caster sugar

125g unsalted butter

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 tablespoons instant coffee

225g self-raising flour

2 eggs, beaten

For the icing:

100g icing sugar

50g butter

2 tablespoons instant coffee

Melt the sugar and water together in a saucepan. Stir in the butter, cocoa, bicarb and coffee and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes then allow to cool.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Beat the flour and eggs into the mixture until smooth. Divide into cupcake cases and bake for 20 minutes until firm. Allow to cool.

Whip the icing ingredients together until smooth and use it to sandwich cut halves of the cupcake together.