The Coffee Round-up - Part II

Every great book or film has a sequel and this month's We Should Cocoa challenge is no different. Fasten your seatbelts, as Bette Davis once said in a completely different context, there's a lot more coffee and chocolate to get through...

Is it too early for a splash of Amaretto? Of course not, it's never too early, especially if it's in these Amaretto Coffee Brownies as made by Georgina at Culinary Travels.

Amaretto Coffee Brownies

If you'd rather brownies with a hint of spice, with is perhaps more appropriate first thing in the morning, you might prefer these Spiced Brownies made by Janet at The Taste Space.

Spiced Brownies

I'm sure you couldn't say no to one of these Coffee-Iced Brownies from the Hungry Hinny. Go on, just one won't hurt.

Coffee-Iced Brownies

Still not convinced? Then what about this Mocha Fudge Brownie Slice - the brownie that combines all that fudgy goodness AND a shortbread base - made by Suelle at Mainly Baking?

Mocha Fudge Brownie Slice

Ok, no more brownies, I promise. Let's move on to something with a bit of crunch, like these Happiness Cookies, inspired by Joy the Baker and made by everyone's favourite femme fatale, Delaney at Heartbreak Pie. Here's a tantalising shot of the bowl...

Happiness Cookies - in process

Harriet at Food Love Food also went in for biscuits - these Chocolate Espresso Biscuits look divine.

Chocolate Espresso Fingers

I absolutely love the look of these Mocha Viennese Fingers from Cookbooks Galore, particularly because they look exactly like something from the Australian Women's Weekly Cookbook circa 1970 (and I mean that as a compliment).

Mocha Viennese Fingers

And the precision of these Mocha Bourbon Biscuits (that's Bourbon as in the packaged biscuit, not the drink) blows me away. Take a bow, Becky of Mint Custard!

Mocha Bourbon Biscuits

Caroline from Cake, Crumbs and Cooking detests coffee but she gritted her teeth and got stuck in with these Coffee Chocolate Chunk Cookies (while offering the helpful suggestion that the coffee can be omitted in favour of ginger).

Coffee Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I felt terrible when Choclette, the founder of We Should Cocoa, confessed she couldn't stand coffee either, but the sight of her lovely Espresso and Cappuccino Cupcakes cheered me up no end.

Espresso And Cappuccino Cupcakes

Juliet from The Crazy Gypsy Chronicles doesn't drink coffee either, but she admits being addicted to these sweet little Mocha Cookie Kisses.

Mocha Cookie Kisses

Actually, I should probably come clean and this point and confess that I don't drink the stuff either. But I do occasionally eat it in things, such as Mary Mathis' Chocolate Biscuits.

Mary Mathis' Chocolate Biscuits

But enough of these caffeine confessions, let's get back to the baking. Katie from Apple and Spice made her We Should Cocoa debut with this delectable, gluten-free, Coffee Swirl Cake With Chocolate Chips. She can come again, right?

Coffee Swirl Cake With Chocolate Chips

Sarah at Sarah Bakes wins the prize for the cutest cupcake tin - her Cappuccino Cupcakes are actually baked in these silicon cases.

Cappuccino Cupcakes

Mac at Chocolate Recipes - a blog that has what it says on the tin - made me swoon with this Chocolate Cake with Coffee Syrup (and I don't really like chocolate cake, much).

Chocolate Cake With Coffee Syrup

But that's not to say that I didn't also love the look of this Vanilla Iced Coffee And Chocolate Cake from Jo at Comfort Bites...

Vanilla Iced Coffee and Chocolate Cake

... or this Chocolate And Coffee Cake With Espresso Buttercream from Susie at Fold In The Flour (I have just found Susie's blog - her baking is incredible).

Chocolate And Coffee Cake With Espresso Buttercream

Time for a break from cake? Ok, here's a Frozen Mocha Cheesecake from Susan at Spice Garden, dating back to her days of singleton debauchery. She says this cheesecake serves 12, but I reckon she's not trying hard enough.

Frozen Mocha Cheesecake

This Dark Chocolate And Coffee Mousse from TangoLikeRaindrop also looks just the ticket for a night of decadence. Preferably one spent home alone on the sofa, in front of Coronation St. Have I just shared too much?

Dark Chocolate And Coffee Mousse

Enough about my Coro habits (is it just me, or do Carla and Michelle look like they've been dip-dyed in Nescafe?), Jen at Blue Kitchen Bakes knocked out this very respectable-looking Chocolate And Coffee Loaf.

Chocolate And Coffee Loaf

Karen at Lavender and Lovage never ceases to amaze me with her incredibly detailed and inventive recipes - and her entry this month was every bit as incredible as I expected. These Little Coffee Chocolate Chip Cupcakes With Vanilla Cream Froth are a delight to behold (and I'm sure they're even better to eat).

Little Coffee Chocolate-Chip Cupcakes With Vanilla Cream Froth

Given that she zips back and forth between France and the UK, Jean at Baking In Franglais is pretty inventive too. Here's her Cappuccino Cake, whipped up in haste for her dad.

Cappuccino Cake

Fleur at Homemade By Fleur is also a cake whiz and she created this Chocolate And Coffee Celebration Cake With Whipped Vanilla Icing for her entry. That's worth celebrating in itself, surely.

Chocolate And Coffee Celebration Cake With Whipped Vanilla Icing

Meanwhile, Cheah at No-Frills Recipes solved the problem of what to do with the bottle of Kahlua sitting in her cupboard by pouring some of it into these Almond Coffee Cakes. Shall we speculate on what happened to the rest?

Almond Coffee Cakes

No, let's gaze at the fantastically drippy icing on this Spiced Espresso Loaf Cake, made by Laura at How To Cook Good Food. I love drippy icing.

Spiced Espresso Loaf Cake

Speaking of which, Janine at Cake Of The Week also went all out on the icing front with these Mocha Marble Cupcakes. This is icing porn at its best!

Mocha Marble Cupcakes

I'll leave the last word to Iva, organiser of the New Zealand Chocolate Festival. She says her truffle making efforts are worthy of epic laughter and finger pointing. I think she's wrong (even though her post made me laugh so much I nearly fell off the uncomfortable stool that masquerades as my 'office' chair).

Coffee and chocolate - what could go wrong?

Thanks to everyone who participated in this month's challenge. If you're up for more chocolate fun and games, head over to Chocolate Log Blog tomorrow (July 1) to find out what the special ingredient will be.