Harvest Surprise Cupcakes Made with Coffee

Harvest Surprise Cupcakes Made with Coffee

The chilly fall air has finally arrived here in Southern New England. Who would have thought it would be 90 degrees one day and then a raw 60 something degrees the next?

I did my fall cleaning this weekend, and changed out summery decor for orange, red, and cranberry tones. I also decided to bake up a batch of delicious Harvest Surprise Cupcakes Made with Coffee.

Fall is the perfect time to make cupcakes; especially cupcakes that are infused with all the flavors of fall you can expect here in New England. I just love the tastes of Pumpkin Spice, and Caramel Apple so decided to bring the two flavors together to make one delicious sweet treat.

I have had pumpkin-apple muffins in the past and loved the way the flavors worked together, so I was confident combining these two flavors in one cupcake would be just as drool-worthy.

While at Target this past Friday, I was super excited to see the seasonal Halloween, and Harvest aisles already jam-packed with decor, costumes, and fall baking supplies. 

Target is my favorite retailer because they always have the best merchandise, and shopping atmosphere. Plus, they have that really amazing Dollar Spot which can suck up my paycheck pretty darn quickly!

As a raced strolled to the seasonal area in the back of the store, my anticipation for the Target Harvest merchandise grew. Once I turned that corner and saw pumpkins, and lot of candy ahead, I really felt like I was in a wonderland of amazing treats, and items that I look forward to each year.

Some of my favorite edibles that signify this time of year for me, are Dunkin’ Donuts® Pumpkin Spice Coffee, and yummy harvest themed candies like M&M’S® in Pumpkin Spice Latte flavor which are available exclusively at Target. I really love Pumpkin Spice everything so these two items were first in my cart. I knew I needed some cake mix and frosting, so I added some Pillsbury® seasonal flavors to my cart as well. 

Since I was a Target, I was sure to check the Cartwheel App to see if there were any savings I could apply to my order. You bet I was over the moon when I could save on the Dunkin’ Donuts® Pumpkin Spice Coffee and some DOVE® Dark Chocolate Pumpkins I just needed because they were too cute to resist among other things.

As mentioned I decided to make some Harvest Surprise Cupcakes Made with Coffee. I have made plenty of coffee infused baked goods in the past so I was excited to use the Dunkin’ Donuts® Pumpkin Spice Coffee in my recipe. Basically, in lieu of adding the 1 cup of water to the cake mix, I used one cup of freshly brewed Pumpkin Spice Coffee.

After these cupcakes baked up perfectly, and cooled I cored out the middle using a butter knife, and added some Pumpkin Spice Latte M&M’S® to the middles. Then, I returned the top cap of the cupcake, and frosted the cupcakes. I also added some pumpkin spice to the frosting, and sprinkled a few M&M’S® on top.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of M&M’S® in Pumpkin Spice Latte flavor
• Boxed cake mix *Pillsbury® makes some wonderful harvest flavors
• Frosting-2 cans
• Egg, & oil needed to prepare boxed cake mix
• Pumpkin spice-1 teaspoon for dusting cupcakes *optional
• 1 cup of freshly brewed Dunkin’ Donuts® Pumpkin Spice Coffee

Directions: 

Pre-heat your oven according to your boxed cake mix instructions.

Line two 12 count muffin tins with cupcake liners

Prepare cake mix according to the instructions (most require 1 cup of water), BUT instead of using 1 cup of water, use the Dunkin’ Donuts® Pumpkin Spice Coffee.

Add other called for ingredients, and mix well using a whisk

Fill cupcake liner with batter and bake *according to box instructions

Once cupcakes are done, allow them to cool

After they are fully cooled, hollow out the middles using a butter knife, and fill them with M&M’S®

Place top back over the cupcake (just the flat part, cut off the cones shape bottom)

Frost using a piping bag and then dust with a light sprinkle of pumpkin spice and some M&M’S®

I love the “surprise” element of these cupcakes because most people will not expect the middle to contain some yummy Pumpkin Spice Latte M&M’S®. As for the coffee, I find using coffee makes the flavor more intense, and the cake moister. I recommend making a pot of Dunkin’ Donuts® Pumpkin Spice Coffee to serve your guest along with these cupcakes. 

These cupcakes turned out to be really yummy, and they had the perfect amount of spice and fall flavor. I would totally make them again, and hope you do too! They are wonderful for fall parties, and do not require much work since they are made with boxed mixes, and already made frosting.

I loved the fun fall flavor I cooked up with these cupcakes. Check out more fun recipes using Mars chocolate candies and Dunkin’ Donuts® Pumpkin Spice coffee here!