Cappuccino cupcakes with dulce de leche filling

These mouthfuls of chocolatey, coffee-flavoured, bites of goodness are not for the faint of heart.
If even a smidgen of sugar makes your heart pitter-patter, you may want to gaze longingly at these cupcakes from afar.
OK, who are we kidding? If you're anything like me, you'll barely be able to resist sinking your teeth into the unadorned fresh-out-of-the-oven cupcakes.
It was all I could do to save these for my sister's dinner party instead of eating them before the frosting had barely settled. And who could blame me?

The freshly ground espresso in the cupcake batter perfectly complements the syrupy caramel goodness of the dollop of dulce de leche while the chocolate frosting will fulfill even the most rabid of sweet tooths.

Recipe for cappuccino cupcakes (adapted from recipe provided at Bonnie Gordon's School of Confectionary Arts)

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp finely ground coffee
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 tbsp instant coffee
1 tsp warm water
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
2 egg whites
2/3 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
chocolate chips

Directions:
Sift flour in bowl and add the rest of the dry ingredients. Whisk and set aside.

In another bowl, using the paddle attachment on your electric mixer, blend the butter and sugar until well mixed. Add egg whites one at a time, scraping down bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla.

In another bowl, dissolve instant coffee with warm water and add to yogurt

Beginning with the dry mixture, alternate between adding the dry and yogurt mixture to the egg mixture. End with the dry mixture. Beat until batter is smooth.

Place batter in prepared muffin twins and bake at 300F-350F for about 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean, or cupcake springs back if you touch it lightly.

Yield: 12 small cupcakes

Chocolate frosting:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup icing sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
4 tbsp milk
pinch of salt

Directions:
Sift dry ingredients and then combine rest in bowl of electric mixer, using paddle attachment.

Dulce de leche filling:
To make dulce de leche, take a can of sweetened condensed milk, take the label off, poke two holes in the top, and place in pot. Fill the pot with water that comes up to a quarter inch below the can. Once It begins boiling, let it simmer for about 2 hours for solid dulce de leche, or 4 hours for liquidy dulce de leche. Once the cupcakes cool, poke holes in them, fill with dulce de leche, and cover hole with frosting.

Would I make these again? Haaaayl yes. I'm making the cupcakes for an upcoming Christmas party, and the chocolate frosting is also too easy not to put on file for future use.

Substitutions: None. For my first-time effort, I followed the recipes to a T. The substitutions can come later.

Grade: Five stars out of five. Granted, I can see where some people might complain their teeth hurt because of the sugar content, but I tend to see that as a point in a dessert's favour.