1-3/4 (224g) cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey’s Cocoa
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup strong black coffee
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Homemade Speculoos Filling
adapted from Wander Cooks

150 g Lotus Biscoff speculoos biscuits
100 g evaporated milk
Salt to taste
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Swiss Meringue Vanilla Buttercream

7 large (210 grams) egg whites
2 cups (400 grams) granulated sugar
340 grams unsalted butter, slightly softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
Red and green food colouring

To make Chocolate Cupcakes

To make Chocolate Cupcakes

Heat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes (batter will be thin). Pour batter evenly into prepared pan.

Bake 20 minutes until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Loosen cake from side of pan and remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

To make Homemade Speculoos Filling

Place speculoos biscuits in a food processor until well crushed and blended. Drizzle in Evaporated milk until desired consistency. Add spices and salt to taste.

To make Swiss Meringue Vanilla Buttercream

In a large saucepan, place mixing bowl over a pot of barely simmering water. Add egg whites and cups sugar and whisk together until frothy. Whisk constantly until mixture reaches 160˚F (takes about 3 min). Sugar should be fully dissolved (no granules when rubbing mixture between finger tips). Mixture will feel hot to the touch (or like the temperature of warm milk).

Once bowl is at room temperature, switch to paddle attachment, and whip together until soft peaks form. Add butter 1 Tbsp at a time. Once all butter is in, scrape down the bowl and continue beating until it reaches a thick whipped consistency. It may look lumpy – it’s a good sign, keep beating until it changes consistency to become smooth, thick and whipped. Add vanilla extract and salt and mix on med-high until incorporated and silky. Tint with food colouring.

To decorate cupcakes

Core out the center of each cupcake and fill with 1 heaped teaspoon of speculoos. Using your piping tips, pipe out poinsietta designs on the cake. For reference, here are the tips I used: Ponsietta (Wilton 352 leaf tip), White flower (Wilton 127 petal tip), Wreath (Wilton 199 open star tip, Wilton 16 star tip). Have fun!