Do you ever have weekends that zip by you so fast, you wonder where they went?

Do you drag yourself out of bed on Monday mornings wanting to kill something?

Have you ever wondered why it is so easy to stay up late (watching tv shows one after the other till your eyes go dry), and so awfully, painfully hard to wake up in the morning?
(Don’t tell me you’re a “morning” person. Read the second line above. Beware.)

Savouring weekends is an art form.
Enjoying them, lazing in their warmth, relaxing in their glow – is important.
That time of doing just what you want is crucial. Both for you and the lives of the people you meet on Monday mornings (read second line above).

What do you do to relax on weekends?
I bake.

This weekend I made cupcakes for a party.
I made 2 kinds.

Remember the red velvet cupcakes I made?
I made them again.

But since I made them in the afternoon and the party was in the evening, by the time we opened the box to eat them, the cream cheese icing had melted and was running down the sides of the cupcakes.

Not a pretty sight (to say the least).
(I will be kind and not show you a picture.)

But at least they tasted good. Right? 😦

The other cupcakes saved me.

They were coffee and walnut.
They were pretty and sophisticated.
Audrey Hepburn would totally eat them.

Cupcakes like these make for great weekends.
They also make Monday mornings slightly more bearable 🙂

Coffee-walnut cupcakes

Adapted from: Mary Berry’s recipe in Cook up a feast

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 25 mins
Makes: 12

Ingredients:

1 tbsp coffee powder
1 tbsp boiling water
120 g butter (salted is fine, but melted and cooled)
140 g plain flour, sifted
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
120 g caster sugar
2 tbsp milk
2 eggs
75 g walnuts, chopped

For the icing:

2 tsp coffee powder
2 tsp boiling water
100 g butter (salted is fine, but softened)
150 g icing sugar (sifted)
12 walnut halves

Method:

For the cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 180º C. Mix the coffee powder in the boiling water until dissolved. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Add all the other ingredients and mix well until you have a thick, but smooth batter.
2. Spoon into cupcake liners placed in a 12-holed tray, and bake for 25 minutes until golden on top. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

For the icing

1. Dissolve the coffee powder in the boiling water. Add the butter and icing sugar and mix well.
2. Spoon or pipe on to the cooled cupcakes and place one walnut half on top of each.