Friday Recipe Swap: Variations on Cupcakes

Like many people I have a tried and tested cupcake recipe:

1. Heat oven to 190 C (fan 175 C)
2. Pop papercases into a 12 hole cake baking tray
3. Get a large mixing bowl
4. Sift in 4 oz of self raising flour
5. Add 4 oz caster sugar
6. Add 4 oz margarine or butter
7. Add 2 medium eggs
8. Add pinch bicarbonate of soda
9. Add few drops vanilla essence
10. Mix together until mix drops off a spoon
11. Share between the 12 cases
12. Bake for 15 minutes in the oven
13. Once cooled decorate if required

Sometimes I like to mix things up a bit and vary the recipe. First up chocolate chip I add 2 oz of chocolate chips to the mixture once it is blended:

The cakes are then just a little bit more interesting without too much effort:

My next variation was accidental but turned out delicious! Instead of vanilla essence I dissolved a teaspoon of coffee in boiling water and added to the cake mix:

This makes the cake mix a nice brown colour, you can adjust the amount of coffee powder to suit your taste:

It may have been an accident but it turned out great:

What I had meant to make were mocha cakes inspired by an Usborne children's cookery book! For this recipe you replace 1 oz of flour with 1 oz of cocoa and use the coffee mix instead of vanilla:

These come out a lovely dark brown and are very scrummy:

What are your favourite variations on a simple fairy cake?