These are THE BEST coffee cupcakes with fluffy Bailey’s and coffee swirled buttercream, perfect for St. Patty’s Day!
What makes these Coffee Cupcakes the BEST?
- Light & fluffy texture. There’s really nothing worse than a dense cupcake, and these are anything but. They’re light, bouncy, and stay incredibly moist for days.
- Easy to make. This recipe comes together in under an hour and is basically foolproof. I’ve included process photos to help you every step of the way.
- Customizable. The cupcakes are espresso flavored, but can be paired with whatever buttercream you choose. Here I paired them with a Bailey’s buttercream and espresso buttercream that I swirled together. But, they would be great with chocolate, caramel, or vanilla buttercream as well. My vanilla buttercream recipe can be found here.
Ingredients
- Butter. I recommend using a high quality butter, like Kerrygold. I almost always reach for the salted butter when baking, but for frosting I like to use unsalted so that I have total control of the amount of salt. So, I used salted for the cupcakes, and unsalted for the frosting.
- Vanilla Bean Paste. I love using vanilla bean paste when baking. It’s a bit stronger than regular pure vanilla extract and has the pretty little flakes of vanilla bean. You can sub pure vanilla extract if needed!
- Espresso Powder. The coffee flavor in these coffee cupcakes comes from espresso powder. I like to use this one.
- Buttermilk. I like using buttermilk when making cake and cupcakes, but if you don’t have any, you can use regular milk with a splash of white vinegar or lemon juice.
How to Make Bailey’s and Coffee Cupcakes
Make the Coffee Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350 and line 2 cupcake pans with liners. This recipe makes 22 cupcakes so line one with 12 liners and one with 10. In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar for 5 minutes. Add the eggs and mix for an additional 2 minutes. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour the vanilla bean paste and the espresso powder into the buttermilk and whisk to combine.Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the buttermilk starting and ending with the dry ingredients. So, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half of the buttermilk, then 1/3 of the flour, etc.Mix until the dry ingredients are just incorporated.
Portion the batter into the cupcake liners filling just over 3/4 of the way full.Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, then rotate the cupcakes and bake an additional 8-10 minutes or until the edges are just starting to brown and a toothpick comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs attached.Let cool completely before frosting.
Make the Bailey’s and Espresso Buttercream
Cream the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment for 10 minutes, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl occasionally.Add the vanilla and salt and mix to combine.Add 1/2 of the powdered sugar, mix on low for 3 minutes, then repeat with the remaining powdered sugar.
If you want to swirl two flavors of buttercream together, separate it into two bowls. Flavor half with Bailey’s and the other half with some espresso powder dissolved into heavy cream. Spread each flavor of buttercream onto plastic wrap and roll it up into a long log. Use scissors to cut off one end of the plastic wrap on both flavors, then slide them down into a piping bag fitting with a star tip like Wilton 1M.
Pipe the buttercream onto all of the cooled cupcakes, and serve. If making these ahead of time cover and place in the fridge until about 1 hour until you want to serve them.
Tools and Equipment
- Mixer. You can make these cupcakes using a handheld electric mixer or a stand mixer, although I find a stand mixer to be easier especially for the frosting.
- Disposable Piping Bags. I like these biggie boys.
- Piping Tips. I used a Wilton 1M star tip for these cupcakes, but some of my other favorite tips for cupcakes are the Wilton 8B, and Wilton 1A.
- Cupcake Liners. Of course, use your favorites, but I love these parchment ones from Amazon.
- Cupcake Pans. USA Pan is my go to for all baking pans and cookie sheets. They’re just the best.
Bailey’s and Coffee Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Espresso Cupcakes
- 1/2 C (113g) Salted Butter, at room temperature
- 1 3/4 C (375g) Granulated Sugar
- 2 Lg Eggs, at room temperature
- 1 TBSP Vanilla Bean Paste
- 1 1/4 C Buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 TBSP Espresso Powder
- 2 1/2 C (310g) All Purpose Flour
- 2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
For the Bailey’s Buttercream
- 1 C (226g) Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
- 4 C Powdered Sugar
- 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 3 TBSP Bailey’s Irish Cream
- 1–2 TBSP Heavy Cream, at room temperature
Instructions
For the Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 and line 2 cupcake pans with 22 total cupcake liners.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar for 5 minutes.
- Add the eggs and mix for an additional 2 minutes. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Pour the vanilla bean paste and the espresso powder into the buttermilk and whisk to combine.
- Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the buttermilk starting and ending with the dry ingredients. So, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half of the buttermilk, then 1/3 of the flour, etc.
- Mix until the dry ingredients are just incorporated.
- Portion the batter into the cupcake liners filling just over 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, then rotate the cupcakes and bake an additional 8-10 minutes or until the edges are just starting to brown and a toothpick comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs attached.
- Let cool completely before frosting.
For the Buttercream
- Cream the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment for 10 minutes, scraping down the bottom and sides of the bowl occasionally.
- Add the vanilla and salt and mix to combine.
- Add 1/2 of the powdered sugar, mix on low for 3 minutes, then repeat with the remaining powdered sugar.
- To swirl two flavors of buttercream together, separate it into two bowls. Flavor half with Bailey’s and the other half with some espresso powder dissolved into heavy cream. Spread each flavor of buttercream onto plastic wrap and roll it up into a long log. Use scissors to cut off one end of the plastic wrap on both flavors, then slide them down into a piping bag fitting with a star tip like Wilton 1M.
- Pipe the buttercream onto all of the cooled cupcakes, and serve.
If you loved this recipe for my Bailey’s and Coffee Cupcakes, be sure to leave a star rating and review below and tag @buuckfarmsbakery on TikTok and Instagram. To save this recipe for later, click on the Pinterest icon on the recipe card above, or on any of the images throughout this post.
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