Like your favourite latte in cupcake form, these easy coffee and walnut cupcakes have it all. Rich coffee flavour, a fluffy, moist cupcake studded with walnuts, and the creamiest luscious coffee buttercream.
The cupcake itself is quite a subtle coffee flavour as baking tends to reduce it’s punch but it’s still there. The coffee buttercream though is on another level. It’s so smooth and creamy, has a good punch of coffee and compliments the cake perfectly.
Love coffee desserts? Try this chocolate coffee bundt cake or these delicious coffee cake muffins.
❤️ Why you’ll love them
- Classic flavour combo – coffee and walnuts compliment each other beautifully.
- Moist and fluffy texture – the cupcakes stay moist and tender.
- Easy to make – simple ingredients, straightforward steps, beginner-friendly too.
- Perfect for any occasion – bake sales, afternoon tea, parties, Mothers day and more.
- Customisable – adjust coffee strength, use decaf, swap the nuts for what you have or love.
- Make-ahead friendly – can be made a day or two in advance and still have a lovely texture.
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Tools you’ll need
While the cupcakes can be made in a mixing bowl by hand, I do find a stand mixer easier for the buttercream, since you want to get that sugar and butter creamed together really well.
Ingredients for coffee and walnut cupcakes
While you may be thinking of using your favourite brewed espresso for these, the best flavour will actually come from using instant coffee and it’s a trick that pastry chefs use too. That way you can get a good portion of coffee in without watering down the batter.
Detailed quantities and directions in the recipe card below.
- Instant coffee granules: Instant coffee granules dissolved in just a little boiling water, gives much more flavour than freshly brewed coffee.
- Walnuts: Grab yourself some fresh walnut halves if the ones in your pantry have been there a while. It makes a big difference.
- Flour: I use a combination of plain flour (aka all purpose flour) and cornflour (US cornstarch). This combination creates cake flour, I just prefer not to have yet another tub of flour in my pantry. Long story short, you can use my combination or use cake flour in place of both.
- Baking powder and baking soda: I use a little of both baking powder and baking soda (bicarb) in this recipe. I’ve found this combo works so well for the perfect rise.
- Sugar: I use both brown sugar and white sugar in these coffee and walnut cupcakes. The brown adds a little moisture.
- Eggs: Make sure to use large eggs.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk is part of what makes these cupcakes so tender and moist.
- Vanilla: A little vanilla is great for balancing flavours in desserts.
- Butter: Stick to unsalted butter so you can control the salt level.
- Walnuts: The walnuts with coffee are such a classic flavour combo and they add a nice crunch but feel free to use other nuts if you prefer. Almonds would actually work lovely with the coffee too.
How to make coffee cupcakes
These moist coffee and walnut cupcakes are so easy to make. You just need mixing bowls, a sieve, a whisk and silicone spatula – no stand mixer required for the cake portion.
See the recipe card below for the full recipe details.
1. Make the coffee cupcake batter
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the melted butter and sugars, then add the eggs one at a time.
Now add a third of the flour mixture and fold in.
Follow that up with ½ the buttermilk and all the coffee and fold that through. Repeat this process – flour, buttermilk, flour – until it’s all incorporated … just. Careful not to overmix.
2. Add the walnuts
Add the walnuts and fold those through.
3. Portion and bake
Divide the batter between your cupcake liners and bake for 18-20 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack.
Ingredients for coffee buttercream
With just 4 ingredients, this coffee buttercream is super simple.
Detailed quantities and directions in the recipe card below.
- Icing sugar: Icing sugar (aka powdered or confectioners sugar) is all you need.
- Butter: Being a buttercream the base is of course butter. Unsalted butter is the best way to be able to control the salt level.
- Instant coffee granules: Just like in the cupcakes, we use instant coffee granules in the buttercream. Make sure to use a good quality brand for the best flavour.
- Vanilla: Just a touch of vanilla rounds out the flavour.
How to make coffee buttercream
Making the luscious creamy coffee buttercream is just a 3 step process. I use my stand mixer with paddle attachment but a handheld mixer will work too.
See the recipe card below for the full recipe details.
1. Cream the butter and sugar
Add the butter and a little of the sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment and beat until light and fluffy. If you don’t have a stand mixer, an electric handheld beater will do the trick but may take longer.
2. Add the rest
Now add the remaining sugar, coffee and vanilla, beating until it’s super creamy and whipped looking.
3. Top the cupcakes
Once the cupcakes are cool, you can pipe the frosting onto the top of each one.
The walnut praline
Once the coffee buttercream is piped onto the coffee and walnut cupcakes, they’re ready to eat. Feel free to top them with crumbled walnuts, a walnut half or even this lovely crunchy walnut praline, like I have here, to take them to the next level.
Tips and tricks
- Please always weigh your flour. Baking is a science and a little too much flour, or not enough, will change the way they turn out. Kitchen scales are cheap and the bonus is you don’t need to wash all your cup measures if you’re just weighing everything directly into your mixing bowl.
- As always with cupcakes or cakes, make sure not to overmix the batter or your cupcakes can end up dry or tough.
- Using a large cookie scoop to fill the cupcake liners makes the job almost effortless.
- The baking time will depend on the type of muffin tin you’re using. A metal one will cook them quicker than the silicone style muffin trays.
- Also, keep in mind, all ovens vary. Mine might bake them in 18 minutes but yours might take 17 or 20. This is because many oven thermostats are actually not spot on. It’s always a good idea to keep an oven thermometer inside your oven so you can keep an eye on it and adjust as necessary.
Variations
- Decaffeinated: You can swap regular coffee granules for decaffeinated coffee granules.
- Swap the nuts: Try other nuts in place of the walnuts like almonds, pecans, hazelnuts or cashews.
- Nut-free: If you want nut-free coffee cupcakes, simply leave the nuts out.
- Toast the nuts: For a more complex and buttery flavour, toast the walnuts lightly first.
FAQs
Yes, you can however since it is much finer than granules, you won’t need to so much. Espresso powder is also generally stronger than coffee granules. Cut it down to about ⅔ of the original amount.
How to store them
These cupcakes will be fine in an airtight container, at room temperature, for a day but after that keep them fridge. They should last 2-3 days. Bring them to room temperature before serving.
More recipes you’ll love
- Chocolate Coffee Bundt Cake
- Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes
- Coffee and walnut loaf
- Coffee Pecan Sweet Rolls
- Chocolate Crumb Cake
Get your bake on coffee addicts friends!
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Ingredients
FOR THE CUPCAKES
- 2 tablespoons instant coffee granules (note 1)
- 195 g plain flour (all purp flour) (1 ½ cups / 7oz)
- ¼ cup cornflour (US cornstarch)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted (113g / 1 stick / 4oz)
- 100 g white granulated sugar (½ cup / 3 ½oz)
- 100 g light brown sugar packed (½ cup / 3 ½oz)
- 2 large eggs room temp
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup whole buttermilk (180ml)
- ½ cup walnuts roughly chopped
FOR THE COFFEE BUTTERCREAM
- 226 g unsalted butter cut into cubes and softened (1 cup / 2 sticks / 8oz)
- 390 g icing sugar (powdered sugar) sifted (3 cups / ~13 ¾oz)
- 2 tablespoons instant coffee granules (note 1)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- Muffin trays
- stand mixer or hand beater
- Large cookie scoop
Instructions
- FOR THE COFFEE CUPCAKES:Preheat your oven to 180C (160C fan forced) / 350F. Line your muffin tin with paper cupcake liners.
- Boil the kettle and add 2 tablespoons (note 1) of boiling water to the coffee granules. Mix to dissolve, then set aside.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cornflour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix well to combine.
- In a separate large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the melted butter and both sugars until combined.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beat with a whisk until completely combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Add the vanilla and beat to combine.
- Add one third of the flour mixture. Stir through gently until just combined. Now add half of the buttermilk and the dissolved coffee mixture. Mix gently again. Continue like this until all the flour and buttermilk is combined… just.
- Add the walnuts and gently mix them through (just a couple of turns). It is important not to overmix or be too heavy-handed otherwise your cupcakes will turn out dry and tough.
- Divide the mixture among the cupcake cases to about two-thirds full.
- Bake for around 18-20 minutes, turning the pan around halfway through to make sure they bake evenly. When a toothpick inserted comes out with just a crumb or two, they are done.
- Cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire cooling rack
- FOR THE COFFEE BUTTERCREAM:Combine the coffee granules with 1 tablespoon (note 1) of boiling water. Stir to dissolve, then set aside
- Beat together the butter and ½ a cup of the icing sugar until light and fluffy. Now, with the mixer on low, gradually add in the rest of the icing sugar.
- Once it is all combined, add the coffee and vanilla, and beat for 5 minutes on medium-high. If the buttercream seems too loose to pipe, just add a little more icing sugar as necessary to thicken it.
- Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, pipe the buttercream on top. Serve as they are or decorate with crushed walnuts or walnut praline.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- Tablespoons: I use a standard Australian 20ml tablespoon (equal to 4 teaspoons). Check yours before measuring.
- For best results, you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
- All ovens vary – the cupcakes are done when a toothpick comes out with a crumb or two attached. As oven thermostats are often out of whack, I recommend keeping an oven thermometer inside your oven so you can check and adjust the heat as necessary.
- The coffee buttercream makes enough to pipe 12 cupcakes generously as shown in these pictures. To cover all 14 cupcakes, you will need to pipe a little lighter.
- You can use decaffeinated instant coffee granules too.
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10 Comments on “Coffee and Walnut Cupcakes”
I thought it might be coffee overkill, but NOOO! These are lovely! Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipes!
I’m so happy you love them, Nora. Thanks so much for dropping back to leave a review.
Could I make this into a traybake rather than Cupcakes? Does melting butter change the texture of a cake rather than creaming room temperature butter ?
Hello Missy, I haven’t tested this as a traybake, though it would likely work. I use melted butter to keep these simple. Creaming the butter and sugar creates more air and generally a fluffier texture, though these cupcakes do not need it and I can’t say how they would turn out if you do it this way.
These were easy and amazing. I cut down on the sugar by 20 grams (10 white and 10 brown) and it worked a treat.
Thanks Kim. I truly appreciate you trying my recipe.
Hi, I made a vanilla mix then added organic cocoa roasted coffee granules, caramel buttercream with crushed walnuts on top.. It was fantastic. I created it as I went, no plan. it was lovely chocolate with a strong bitter coffee and the caramel buttercream with vanilla extract made it not too sweet and the walnuts gave it a crush with slight bitterness. Its amazing what you can do when you have no plan hahaha
Thanks Carol. I’m glad this recipe inspired your own creativity 🙂
The flavour combination here is amazing! Can’t wait to try these!
Hope you love them, Angela 🙂