cupcake challenge ::: week 2 ~ mocha

I'm not a mocha drinking kinda girl so when this challenge came up I started thinking of how I could participate but not have to smell mocha filling the house.  I thought about decorating cupcakes to look like the mocha moth, but I didn't want to try and pull that one off.

Then I got to thinking of ways to make cupcakes look like a cup of mocha... mug cakes!  In the little espresso cups I got my Girlies for tea parties.  The best thing about these cup-a-cakes is it takes about 10 minutes from start to finish. 

a-cup-a-cake
4 Tablespoons flour
4 Tablespoons vanilla sugar
2 Tablespoons dark chocolate cocoa powder
1 small/medium egg or 2 Tablespoons of a large whisked egg
3 Tablespoons milk
3 Tablespoons oil
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
4 Tablespoons chocolate chips

Mix all the ingredients in a 1 cup glass measuring cup or a large mug.  At this point you can nuke the cup-cake in the microwave for about 3 minutes.

I separated the mix into 6 espresso cups filling them half full.  Then put 2 of the cup-a-cakes at a time in the microwave for 1 minute 20 seconds. 

If you like mocha you could substitute the sugar and cocoa powder with Ghirardelli Chocolate Mocha Hot Cocoa powder.

I spooned some vanilla whipped cream on the top and then a little chocolate whipped cream in the center and swirled it with a toothpick.

whipped cream
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons vanilla sugar
1 Tablespoon of dark chocolate set aside

Whip cream, vanilla, and sugar together until it starts to thicken up.  Spoon onto each of the cup-a-cakes.   Add the dark chocolate powder to the remaining whipped cream and mix in.  Spoon in the center of the vanilla whipped cream and swirl with a toothpick.

Now to enjoy my cup-a-cake!