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Mocha cupcakes with coffee meringue❤️❤️

-Not your typical cupcakes, these. You'll want to swirl the coffee-flavored Italian meringue on everything since it's such a genuinely delicious icing.

Ingredients:

2 cups (300g) self-raising flour, sifted
1/4 cup (35g) cocoa powder, sifted
1 cup (220g) caster sugar
80g dark chocolate chips
2/3 cup (165ml) light-flavoured olive oil
1 cup (250ml) buttermilk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup (15g) instant coffee granules

ITALIAN MERINGUE:

2/3 cup (150g) caster sugar
2 tsp instant coffee granules
3 egg whites, at room temperature

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 180°C. Divide 16 paper muffin cases among 2 x 12-hole large cupcake pans.

-Combine flour, cocoa, sugar and a pinch of salt flakes in a large bowl. Stir in the chocolate chips. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, egg and coffee, then add to the dry ingredients and fold until combined.

-Spoon mixture evenly into muffin cases and bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool to room temperature.

-For the Italian meringue, place sugar, coffee and 150ml water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes or until mixture reaches 115°C on a sugar thermometer.

-Place egg whites in a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium speed until soft peaks form. Bring sugar mixture to 121°C (hard-ball stage), then immediately remove from heat. With the mixer running, pour sugar syrup into the egg white in a thin, steady stream. Increase speed to high and mix for 10 minutes or until thick, glossy and cool. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 1cm star nozzle. Pipe onto the cupcakes, then caramelise meringue with a blowtorch until golden. Serve immediately.

Cappuccino ❤️❤️

-The cappuccino is a traditional Italian hot coffee beverage that typically weighs 6 ounces and is created with equal parts espresso, steamed milk, and milk froth. Enjoy it alone or with a flaky pastry for a traditional breakfast.

Ingredients:

25 ml of espresso coffee
85ml of fresh milk

Directions:

-Pour cold milk into a metal steaming pitcher, about a third full

-Release steam from the steaming wand for two seconds to eliminate any residual water

-Dip the tip of the steaming wand into milk and start frothing. As the foam rises and the volume of milk increases, lower the pitcher, always keeping the tip submerged and tilted to create a vortex. Do not mix unnecessarily (i.e. let the natural circulating action do the work)

-Continue steaming until the milk reaches 65 degrees (check via probe-style kitchen thermometer) and its volume doubles

-Tap the base of the pitcher firmly on the countertop to compress the foam

-Prepare an espresso in a large cup (ideally, a cappuccino cup)

-Pour the foamed milk directly into the cup, first aiming for the center, then continuing in a circular motion out toward the rim

-Operate the steam one more time to eliminate any remaining milk residue

Monkey Coffee

Monkey coffee is a rare type of coffee bean from India and Taiwan. Though it's sometimes called monkey p**p coffee, the name "monkey spit coffee" would be more appropriate. The rhesus monkeys and Formosan rock macaques who help "process" the beans do not ingest them. Instead, they chew and spit them out onto the ground for people to pick up. That makes monkey coffee more pleasant to think about than so-called "p**p coffee," which is digested by animals like Indonesia's palm civet.

Though few people get to taste it, monkey coffee is supposed to produce an excellent cup of coffee to drink, with a sweet, complex taste. Like other specialty coffees, it is expensive and hard to find.

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