Thursday, October 06, 2011

Cupcake Friday...

a day early this time! I'm flitting off to the ocean tomorrow to celebrate my friend Anne as she turns 35, so today it is.

Some of Jan Michael's (crazy!) co-workers very politely declined the Carrot, Orange & Golden Raisin cupcakes from two weeks ago when they caught wind of the raisins. I feel so sorry for people who don't like raisins. What kind of life is it when you can't have ants-on-a-log, or a gigantic oatmeal raisin cookie? Anyway, the point is that I very purposely chose a safe recipe this week, so as not to cause the raisin skeptics to faint.

These remind me of gingerbread, with a very heavy emphasis on the ginger. They also aren't overly sweet, but never fear - the frosting makes up for it! The recipe calls for whipped cream as frosting, which I'm sure would be lovely, but we decided to ignore that & use a 'real' frosting recipe instead.

MOLASSES AND GINGER CUPCAKES
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 c unsulfured molasses
2 large eggs
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup hot water
9 ounces fresh ginger, peeled and minced (1 cup)

BROWN SUGAR CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Line 26 standard muffin cups with papers. Whisk together flour, baking soda & salt. In another bowl, whisk sugar, molasses & eggs until smooth; whisk in melted butter & hot water. Stir in flour mixture until just incorporated; stir in ginger.

Divide batter evenly among cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, about 20 minutes. (Cupcakes will not be domed.) Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

For the frosting, beat butter, cream cheese & brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth. Use immediately, or refrigerate up to 3 days in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth.

This picture is awful and I know it:


Oops, I almost forgot: The cupcakes and frosting both came from Martha Stewart's CUPCAKES.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hil - these look awesome! I love anything with molasses! Makes things really moist. :) How were they. I will have to try these. The frosting sounds so good too!

Hilary said...

They were a hit! Not quite as sweet as a usual cupcake, and definitely very ginger-y, but we really liked them! I think they'd be fantastic with a pumpkin spice latte - but what wouldn't?!! :)