Name: Coffee and Walnut Cupcakes with Honeycomb and Chocolate Sauce
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 12
Ingredients: For the cupcakes; 165 g | 5.8oz plain flour; 165 g | 5.8oz soft brown sugar; 55 g | 2oz walnuts; 2 squares honeycomb (optional); 1/2 tbsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 1/4 tsp salt; 100 g | 3.5oz cold unsalted butter (cubed); 2 large eggs; 100 g | 3.5oz sour cream; 2 tbsp cold brew coffee (or 1 tbsp instant espresso powder); 1 tsp vanilla paste; a little butter and flour to grease the muffin tin (or use cupcake cases); Coffee buttercream; 250 g | 8.8oz icing sugar; 85 g | 3oz unsalted butter at room temperature; 1-2 tbsp double cream or milk; 1 tbsp cold brew coffee; 1 tsp vanilla paste; For the honeycomb; 200 g | 7oz sugar; 5 tbsp golden syrup; 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda; a little butter to grease the tin

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Share a KitchenAid Mini moment! These coffee and walnut cupcakes with honeycomb and chocolate sauce are to die for!

It is nearly the middle of September and yet the temperature hovers around 34C (93F)˚ – apparently the highest temperature recorded this month since 1911 in the UK. I am sat at my computer desk with a cold drink in my hand trying to write up this post. I have to admit it has been hours and I am still on line three. But I do have something sweet and delicious to keep me going – the fluffiest, yummiest coffee and walnut cupcake ever. And since I take my coffee seriously it is made with concentrated cold brew coffee so it has quite the kick. This cupcake was the first thing I made in my brand new KitchenAid Mini – a.k.a the cutest stand mixer to ever grace the planet.

The KitchenAid Mini was launched recently and I feel really privileged (= did a little dance and some internal squealing) to be able to review it. Upon opening the box my first thought was ‘honey, I shrunk the KitchenAid!’. Because the mini is, as the name would suggest, a miniature version of the KitchenAid Classic Stand Mixer. The product is aimed at one or two person households and it is 20% smaller and 25% lighter than it’s bigger sibling. But let’s look at the pros and cons a little more closely.

THE PROS

– It is a thing of beauty, available in honeydew (pictured), matte black, matte grey and hot sauce in the UK and even more choices in the US.

– It has a smaller footprint than most stand mixers. If space is tight, the mini can be stored away pretty easily… but it is too pretty not to be permanently on display.

– It is relatively light, only 6.5kg, so you can carry it around with ease.

– Despite the smaller size it has a powerful motor – same size and power as the Classic.

– You can still use the various KitchenAid attachments (food grinder, spiralizer, pasta maker etc.) however the beaters and bowl are not interchangeable with other models.

– The Mini comes with three beaters – a wire whisk, a flat beater and a dough hook. They look they same as the ones on the Artisan model though they are, of course, smaller.

– It is very easy to use and clean (with some reservations on the brushed steel bowl, see below) and in my, albeit limited, experience doesn’t suffer in comparison to the bigger KitchenAid models.

THE CONS

– The price. Ouch. Currently the Mini is more expensive than some of the bigger models. Whether this price will eventually drop remains to be seen.

– The bowl comes in brushed steel and has no handle. This is not a huge issue but if you are accustomed to a handle it takes some getting used to. The brushed steel is not as easy to clean as the polished steel bowl of the Artisan mixer.

– The mixer doesn’t come with a recipe book and since it has a smaller capacity than most stand mixers it would really benefit from some guidelines – for example I am not sure how much bread dough you can safely mix in it (I will update this when I get a chance to make some bread in the mini). There are a few recipes online, but ideally there should be more information provided along with the user manual.

IN USE

I have been using my KitchenAid Artisan mixer practically non-stop for nearly four years – since the inception of the blog in fact. I am so attune to it that I can literally use it with my eyes closed. The KitchenAid Mini functions almost exactly the same in every respect – other than the size the differences are negligible. I often bake smaller cakes for the blog (15cm /6in) and the Mini can handle those perfectly well if not better than the Artisan. It whipped meringue to fluffy perfection with ease, and made perfectly dreamy buttercream. These coffee and walnut cupcakes were perfect in terms of texture (and taste, if I say so myself). I look forward to testing the Mini with some bread recipes.

I was supplied with a KitchenAid Mini for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

The KitchenAid Mini is currently available at John Lewis exclusively but will become more widely available in January. PS: for those who have asked the pretty cake plates are from Marks and Spencer.