Gingerbread Cupcakes

Last year I was in the full swing of cupcake madness. It has swept nearly every city in North America and I was ready to be pulled along. Then came Christmas and I was not ready to give up my cupcake obsession. A new idea had to be born.

In Calgary there is a restaurant chain that isn’t that amazing, but it is one of the places that everyone goes to, because it is there. It is not terrible, but not exactly innovative and fantastic either. It is one of those restaurants that you know you won’t go wrong when you order the burger or the fettuccine alfredo.

Except at Christmas time when they pull out a great dessert that combined with their fantastic cocktails always leads me to say, “Why don’t we go to Earl’s tonight?” This dessert is a warm gingerbread cake. I’m not a dessert person. I’m the one who would much rather order an appetizer than a dessert, but when it comes to this gingerbread cake I’m hooked.

So last year in the mania that was cupcakes I decided to combine my love for this rich gingerbread cake with a cute cupcake. Earl’s serves theirs with caramelized apples and whip cream, not a very portable concoction; something a cupcake has to be. So instead I decorated the cupcakes with royal icing letting it slide and drip off the sides of the cupcake. I topped it off with a piece of marzipan fruit, something you can find online or in cake decorating stores (and even some grocery stores this time of year). It was such a festive look, the white snowy icing combined with the little piece of fruit. And the icing was perfect on the cupcake, a sweet crunch combined with a richly dense, not overly sweet cake.

Here is the recipe for these glorious cupcakes. You can find the recipe for royal icing here on the blog, under the sugar cookie entry. If you can’t find marzipan just use a festive candy.

Enjoy!

Gingerbread Cupcakes

Makes about 12 cupcakes

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup hot milk
Preheat the oven to 350. Butter or line with paper liners a 12-cup muffin tin.

Cream 5 tablespoons of the butter with the white sugar. Add the molasses and the egg and egg yolk.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt.
Dissolve the baking soda in the hot milk. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in the hot milk mixture. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared tin.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until slightly springy to the touch. Allow to cool a few minutes in the pan and remove to a rack to cool.

Once cooled make the royal icing, spread the icing on the top of the cupcakes and don’t worry if it runs down the sides a little, this adds to the effect. Top with the marzipan decoration and allow the icing to harden.