Espresso Muffins with Chocolate Chips

As one grows older, taste in food changes, and that's speaking from experience. Muffins were not my favourite before, same goes for coffee but now, I love muffins, and I love coffee even more! Anything coffee goes for me so I definitely had to make muffins, the coffee way.

Here I used espresso coffee but was a tad disappointed that the coffee taste did not come through that much. Chocolate chips added kinda took over the overall taste, making it more like chocolate chip muffins. Nevertheless, I still would like to share it here, for those who love coffee, but nt too strong tasting though.

Moist and soft centre muffins 

for our breakfast

Espresso Muffins with Chocolate Chips
Adapted from Ellena Guan's Chocolate Chip Muffins, with slight variations

Makes 6 Regular Muffins (I made 10 small muffins)

Dry Ingredients - (A) 
• 165g All-purpose Plain Flour
• 2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt

Wet Ingredients - (B)
• 1 Large Egg (60g)
• 70g Caster Sugar
• 120ml Espresso coffee without sugar (cooled to room temperature)
• 60ml Vegetable Oil
• 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla extract 


• Desired amount of chocolate chips for mixing or sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (392°F) and line muffin tins with muffin liners or alternatively grease muffin tin. 

2. Stir Ingredients (A) together in a bowl till well-mixed and set aside. 

3. Whisk Ingredients (B) together using a hand whisk starting with egg and sugar till combined then followed by the rest.

4. Pour mixture (B) into (A), using a spatula gently fold mixture to combine until no trace of flour is found (the batter will be thick and lumpy so do not over mixed it). 

5. Lastly fold in chocolate chips and spoon batter into prepared muffin tin all the way to the brim (do not 't worry the batter will not overflow). Top with optional chocolate chips or walnut on top before baking. 

6. Bake at 200°C for the first 5 minutes and then reduce temperature to 180°C for another 25 - 30 minutes until surface is browned and a skewer inserted in the center and comes out clean. 

7. Remove muffin tin from the oven and allow the muffins to cool in the tin for at least 10 minutes before removing it on a wire rack. 

Espresso Chiffon Cake

Haa... so my obsession with baking anything espresso is still not quite done yet!  Whenever my mood to bake arises, the first thing that comes to my mind would be, "Can I do it espresso flavour??" Well, so here you are... my aromatic espresso chiffon cake! 

Not wanting my chiffon cake to have those instant coffee cake aroma, I baked this chiffon cake using 2 shots of freshly brewed espresso coffee. Up it to a more intense level by adding some cocoa powder and achieved this one chiffon cake that I will surely bake again. So looking forward to my breakfast tomorrow!  ♡♡♡

Espresso Chiffon Cake

蛋黄面糊 Egg yolk mixture
5个蛋黄 / 5 egg yolks
20克糖 / 20g sugar
30克油 / 30g oil 
60克浓咖啡 (不必加糖) / 60g espresso (no sugar added)
1 1/2 大匙 无糖可可粉粉 / 1 1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
100克低筋面粉 / 100g plain flour

蛋白霜 Egg white meringue
5个蛋白 / 5 egg white
60克糖 / 60g sugar

Almond flakes, for toppings (optional)


1. 准备浓咖啡, 在浓咖啡还没冷却时，加入可可粉拌均,放凉备用。
Prepare espresso, add in cocoa powder and mix well till cocoa powder is dissolved. Set aside to cool before use.

2. 蛋黄加入糖拌均。
combine egg yolks and sugar and mix well with a whisk till sugar is dissolved.

3. 加入油和凉了的浓咖啡搅拌均匀。再加入筛过的低筋面粉。
Stir in oil and cooled espresso mixture, whisk till combined before adding in sifted plain flour and mix well till no clumps are present.

4. 蛋白搅拌到起粗泡沫然后分三次加入糖搅拌至硬和带有光泽。
In a separate clean and dry mixing bowl, add in egg white and beat till large bubbles are formed. In 3 additions, add in sugar. Make sure to beat till sugar is dissolved in between each addition. Stop when the white mixture reaches stiff peak stage.

5. 蛋白分三次加入蛋黄糊里，轻轻的把蛋白和蛋黄拌至没蛋白粒存在即可。
In 3 additions, fold in egg white meringue into yolk mixture in a one gentle direction, taking care not to over fold and deflate mixture.

6. 在烤模里撒一些杏仁片, 然后将面糊倒入烤模, 放入预热烤箱以 160'C 烤 1 小时。
Place some almond flakes into chiffon tube pan and then pour cake mixture into chiffon tube pan and put to bake in a preheated oven and bake at 160deg C for 1 hour or till done.

7. 蛋糕烤好后从烤箱取出，倒扣待冷再切块。
Remove from oven and overturn to allow chiffon cake to cool before slicing.

The almond flakes added some munch to the chiffon cake.

Slice when cool and enjoy!

Espresso Choco Chip Mantou

Bad hazy periods like these have seriously affected me by quite abit. With an already not-too-good respiratory system, the nose just got worse with the ever increasing PSI. I cannot wait to get out of here for the fresh air man!!!

Now, bad weather not only cause me to have bad blocked nose, it has also dampened my mood to bake and cook! These steamed buns were a result of forced baking, but fortunately they still turned out well and fit for brekkie.

Wanna make them again when the weather and my mood gets better.

Espresso Choco Chip Mantou

5g Instant yeast
60g espresso, cooled (without sugar)
123g fresh milk
35g caster sugar
340g plain flour
5g butter (room temp)

3 tbsp unsweetened chocolate chips


1. Mix caster sugar with all of espresso and part of fresh milk to make 137g and stir well to dissolve sugar. Sprinkle instant yeast over remaining 46g of fresh milk and let it sit for about 2 minutes before stirring them to dissolve yeast. 
2. Sift plain flour. Place all dry ingredients into a mixing bowl, Pour in the wet ingredients and mix well to form a rough dough. Knead dough till smooth and shiny.
3. Place kneaded dough in mixing bowl and cover with clingwrap to let proof for 10 minutes.
3. Do a quick knead on the dough to remove the air then using a rolling pin, roll out dough to form an even rectangular shape with even thickness of 0.5cm and 70cm in length.
4. Trim off sides of dough to get a nicer rectangular shape, sprinkle chocolate chips over rolled dough evenly and carefully roll up dough like rolling swiss roll. About 1cm at the end of the dough, brush on some water and gently press down dough to flatten it a little. 
5.  Using a sharp knife, slice rolled up dough into 10 equal pieces. (I got 9 pieces)
6. Place baking paper under dough and leave dough in steamer to proof for 20 minutes.

7. Steam mantou on medium high heat for 8 minutes. Make sure water is boiling before placing in mantou. Place lid cover sideway for about 1 minute. Remove steamer with lid covered slideways away from stove and let cool for further 2 minutes or so to cool - this is done to prevent mantou skin from crinkling up with the sudden temperature change. Serve warm!

To freeze - Allow mantou to cool and then place in ziplock bag, press out air, zip and freeze.