Gingerbread cupcakes with double ginger frosting
9 Dec
Week two of holiday-themed cupcake baking, and man am I tired! This past weekend I baked up snickerdoodles to send to family and spent 8 hours baking and frosting 6 variety 4-packs of cupcakes and 35+ minis for the Winter Philly Food Swap (more on that next week).
This week I decided to do gingerbread cupcakes. Originally I was going to bake the recipe from The Butch Bakery Cookbook, but the test batch that I made Wednesday night came out too bitter and a bit dry. They’ve been downgraded to “muffin” status and Ray says they’re pretty good with Country Crock. So I came up with an original recipe and I’m pretty pleased.
What I’m not pleased with is their appearance. They’re a little too “home-spun” for my taste, but because they baked up and out too much, the tops are wide and flat. Now, I didn’t want to top the cakes with 10 lbs of frosting, nor did I want to have the frosting centered and surrounded by a moat of cake. So I spread it out, spiked it, dusted it with a little cinnamon spice sugar and called it a night. Because sometimes you just have to do that or collapse from exhaustion.
Ingredients
Directions
Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and position the racks toward the center. Line cupcake pans with papers. Combine dry ingredients; set aside.
Cream butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, then add vanilla and molasses.
Mix in the dry ingredients in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each. Finish by adding the reduced stout, if using.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about halfway full. Bake for about 20-22 minutes.
When done, transfer tins to wire racks to cool 15 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely.
For the double ginger frosting, beat the butter until light and fluffy.
Add 1 cup of sugar, ground ginger, minced crystallized ginger and vanilla, beating until combined.
Add the remaining sugar gradually and cream, and whip until light and fluffy.
These were good!
FROSTING: Was good! I feel like you’ve done this flavor before, but it was good! Good texture and etc.
CAKE: Also good! I know yesterday you said you had some issues with the dryness, but this batch today was good. The texture was a little dryer, but if was very, very minor and actually I think I kind of liked it like that.
BONUS: Gingerbread accents! Definitely present in a nice way. Well-balanced (like not too much flavor or too little), and tasty. The right “weight” of gingerbread flavor for a cupcake I think, if that makes sense
OVERALL: Not your most impressive cake, but that’s only because you’ve made some crazy shit in the past (booze-infused laser-filled cakes, the singing cherry cake of Mt. Olympus, etc.) and these were a little … simpler-seeming I guess? Still really good though, and a nice holiday-themed treat. Would eat again!
This was a tasty one. As I’ve said before, I love anything spiced this time of year and this was perfect. I thought the cake texture was great. Good crumb and light texture. Icing was also delicious, as always. Enjoyed the double ginger kick with the sweetness.
This cupcake inspired me to go home and make gingerbread! Definitely yummy. I saved this bad boy for an afternoon treat to have with coffee—great choice. The spice had just enough kick to get me through the rest of the day
I love love love ginger and could have handled gobs more, but I’m a fiend. I actually would be into trying one that’s seriously spicy with ginger….The icing was awesome. Good call on doubling the ginger. Since I’m generally used to gingerbread being a kinda hard cookie, the soft fluffy cupcake was an amazing change. Yum!
Ate this right after some spicy Mexican food, and the ginger was a superb complement. I was afraid they would be too dry, but like my fears of spiders and women, it was mostly unfounded. Light, good texture/consistency, and with a noticeable but not overpowering ginger flavor. And your buttercream is always awesome, so I think anything you add to it turns out well.