Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Gingerbread Frosting

If you didn’t see my previous entry on Molasses go here Molasses

This recipe yields 12 muffin size cupcakes

Gather these ingredients:

1 stick of butter (8 tbsp), softened to room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup hot water
1 1/4 cup unsulphured blackstrap molasses
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350

With a  mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together sugar and butter until creamy.  Add egg.

In a small bowl combine hot water, molasses and baking soda and mix well.  Add hot water mixture to sugar and butter mixture.

In a medium size bowl sift flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, salt and baking powder.  Add about 1 cup of flour to wet ingredients until well combined.  Then add the rest of the flour.

Line muffin pans with muffin wrappers or if you’re not using wrappers, spray muffin tin with cooking spray.  Fill each tin 3/4 full and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until they are done.  If you push down lightly on the top of the muffin and it springs back, they are done.

Cool completely before frosting

Gingerbread Cream Cheese Frosting (no refined sugar)

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
3 tbsp molasses
2 tsp stevia (or more depending on how sweet you like it)
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1  tsp vanilla extract

In a mixer, mix together cream cheese and molasses until thoroughly combined, approximately 2 minutes.  Add the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves and mix well.  Add in vanilla.

I used a star tip and topped with a few Jimmies (also called sprinkles, depending on where you live).

Buttercream or Fondant?

If I had to order a special occasion cake from a professional baker, my one big request would be not to us fondant.  I love the creamy fluffy taste of buttercream and fondant tastes foul.  Buttercream icing is made with part butter and part vegetable shortening.  By adding vegetable shortening, the icing will hold its shape.  In other words, those cute roses and daisies won’t sink.  Decorating cakes with buttercream takes weeks if not months of practice.  Fancy borders and string work has to be done with the right icing consistency and pressure on the pastry bag.

What is Fondant?

Fondant is a fancy name for a sugar based icing.  It’s been around for many years but has recently seen it’s popularity grow because of the cake decorating shows on TV.  There are two types of fondant; rolled fondant and poured fondant.

Poured fondant contains corn syrup and is a thick consistency that is poured over cakes, cupcakes and cookies and sometimes used as fillings in candy.  Hence the name poured fondant.   When set, poured fondant will dry to the touch but it’s not so hard that a fingernail couldn’t pierce into it.  Poured fondant comes in different flavors but mostly chocolate and vanilla.

Rolled fondant is mostly confectioner’s sugar with added corn syrup, gelatin, and glycerin.  It is a doughy, clay-like consistency.  In it’s natural state it is white but can be colored using food colors and flavored with extracts.   Rolled fondant is used to sculpt on cakes, cupcakes and cookies.   It also adds a smooth and vibrant look to baked items.  When set fondant doesn’t harden completely, but it becomes leathery.

With rolled fondant, the cake decorator can be very creative and design beautiful cakes.  It takes some practice but fondant is easy to work with.   Fondant can be rolled out with a rolling pin to cover an entire cake or can be used for sculpting.  Flowers made with rolled fondant look real.

But there is one thing that all cake decorators and bakers will agree on.  Rolled fondant, no matter how much extract is added, tastes bad.  Couple that with the leathery texture.   Even though it’s edible, most people peel off the fondant before eating their piece of cake.

Cake Baked From Scratch or From A Boxed Mix?

This question is frequently asked on all of the  Cake  forums I belong to.  While most bakers bake from scratch, I was surprised at how many professional cake decorators and bakery owners are using a boxed mix.  The mix from a box is quick, easy, convenient and tastes pretty good so I can see why a busy baker would resort to using boxed mix.  Also, professional bakers use professional brand cake mixes.

Because I’m not a professional baker and make cakes when I feel like it or as a favor to family and friends, I almost always start from scratch.  As a matter of fact, the only time I use a boxed mix is when I’m teaching decorating workshops where the emphasis is on the decorating technique and not the cake itself.  Or, if I’m practicing a new technique and I don’t want to waste good ingredients on something I might throw out anyway.

There’s no doubt cakes baked from scratch are far better and healthier than boxed mix.  Duncan Hines, Betty Crocker, and Pillsbury all have chemicals in them linked to diseases and dyes that are banned as toxic in some countries.  They are made to have a very long shelf life.

Here are the ingredients in Duncan Hines Yellow cake mix.  Can you even pronounce half of these ingredients?  If you can’t pronounce it, you probably shouldn’t be making cake with it.

Enriched Flour Bleached (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Sugar, Corn Syrup, Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oil, Modified Corn Starch, Corn Starch, Contains 1% or Less of: Salt, Propylene Glycol Mono and Diesters of Fatty Acids, Distilled Monoglycerides, Dextrose, Dicalcium Phosphate, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Xanthan Gum, Yellows 5 & 6, Nonfat Milk.

And if you think this sounds bad, the generic store brand had animal fat in it as well.

So, rather than eat the crap above, you can easily bake from scratch your own cake or cupcakes.  The recipe below makes 24 cupcakes and if you want to make them healthier, try using raw sugar (see http://cinnamonsweetshoppe.wordpress.com/2011/03/19/sugar-refined-or-unrefined/), unbleached flour, and organic ingredients.

NOTE: I would like to point out that some bakers and cake decorators will tell their customers when asked, that they bake from scratch even when they use cake mix.  They are not trying to be deceptive or lie.  Many bakers consider using a cake mix and adding other ingredients such as eggs, oil or water baking from scratch as opposed to buying pre-made batter or pre-baked cakes.

Vanilla Cupcakes

2 cups of sugar
1 cup of butter
4 eggs
4 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
3 ½ tsp baking powder
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Add to butter mixture. Mix well. Stir in milk until smooth. Bake 20-25 minutes.

Look for my next post on why NOT to use canned frosting.

Mardi Gras Masks

As Christmas 2011 moves from present to past, it’s time to focus on the next holiday or event.  Mardi Gras, Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year are just around the corner.  About a week before Christmas I started on my Mardi Gras masks. These mini masks were made from gumpaste, rolled out thin and cut  with a small mask cookie cutter.  Gumpaste is made of glucose, gum-tex, and confectioner’s sugar.  It is 100% edible but tastes like sweet leather and it dries very hard.

I placed them on a curved flower former overnight to dry.  Using water downed food coloring, I painted them with either the Mardi Gras colors (Yellow-Gold, purple, green) or red for Valentine’s Day.  They had to dry completely which took another 8 hours before painting them with lustre dust.  Lustre dust is powdered edible glitter that comes in many shades. Mixed with a few drops of vodka, it turns into a thin pasted and can be painted on top of gumpaste, fondant, and royal icing for a beautiful effect.

One use for these masks is as a cupcake topper.  This cupcake is a “dummie” cupcake.  It was made from styrofoam and will be used for a display.

S’mores Cupcakes

This is it!  Unless something unexpected comes up, I’m finished all of my holiday 2011  baking.  Since Thanksgiving I baked sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, maple cookies, honey cake, peppermint brownies, caramel brownies, chocolate pretzel covered brownies, chocolate chip cookie dough fudge, and now….s’mores cupcakes.

I used my “special” chocolate cupcake recipe but any chocolate cake recipe can be used including store bought mix.

Mix 1 1/2 cups of Graham crackers crumbs with 1/3 cup melted unsalted butter.  Place 1 tablespoon of this mixture into the bottom of muffin wrappers lined in a muffin tin.  Pour batter 1/2 full.  Save the rest of graham cracker crumbs to use on top of cupcakes after frosting.

Place a marshmallow in the center than continue to fill until 1/3 full.  Bake according to directions.

To make marshmallow butter cream icing:

Beat 2 sticks of softened unsalted butter in mix master.  Add 1 cup of confectioner’s sugar 1/4 cup at a time.  When the butter and sugar are thoroughly combined, add in 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (use clear vanilla extract for a whiter color).  Add in 8 oz of marshmallow cream and continue mixing until creamy.

Spoon on the remainder of the graham cracker crumbs on top.  I also  spooned on crushed chocolate wafer crumbs.

Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes (that taste better than they look)

While they may not be the fanciest looking cupcakes on the baking blogs, they are certainly the best tasting.  These chocolate cupcakes have a surprise inside –  ganache.  To tell you the truth, I just didn’t feel like pulling out the decorating bag so I opted to glop on the icing with a spatula.  But many of those $3 fancy looking cupcakes don’t always taste that phenomenal anyway. 

If you’re a professional cupcake maker at one of those fancy bakeries in town, I mean no offense.  I was surprised to learn from a few bakers and employees at some of those trendy cupcake spots in New York City that they use boxed cake mix, doctored boxed cake mix, or the online Betty Crocker cupcake recipe that is available for all of us to use.  They add a teaspoon of a flavoring extract, fruit, or some fancy filling.  To top it off they color the frosting with a pretty color, throw on some nut or chocolate topping and serve in a fancy wrapper.  There you have a $3 work of art cupcake that cost less than a dollar to make.  Because we eat with our eyes, we’ll spend the money on this masterpiece.  But does it actually taste great? 

If you want to eat a $3 cupcake that costs less than a dollar to make, but still is worth $3 than look below at how I doctored up my cupcake.

Start with your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe which you can find online or buy a boxed cake mix in the store.  I like Martha Stewart’s recipe here http://www.marthastewart.com/355559/devils-food-cupcakes 

To make the ganache you will need 8 ounces of baking chocolate (you can use semi-sweet or bittersweet) cut into small pieces and 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream.   Heat the cream over medium heat.  Bring just to a boil.  Immediately pour the cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for a minute or two.  Whisk until smooth.  Put into the refrigerator until cool for about 30 minutes.     

Prior to baking the cupcakes place a teaspoon of chilled ganache on top of the batter. 

 

Follow the baking directions on the recipe or box.  Coffee brings out the chocolate flavor so I frosted the above cupcakes with a coffee flavored Italian Buttercream Frosting.  

Another Use for an Alphabet Cookie Cutter

An acquaintenance of mine will be getting his blue belt in Brazilian Ju-Jitsu soon.  Here is where I made use of a large X cookie cutter.

 

Hershey Kiss Cake

This was a last minute idea.  Not over fancy but still impressive for that last minute barbecue.  I got the recipe from Hershey and topped off the cake with kisses.  The recipe calls for Hershey Unsweetened Cocoa but I used Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa.

Cake Ball Truffles

A few years ago no one had ever heard of a cake pop.  Bakerella (www.bakerella.com) started the trend with her colorful and fun book.  Cake pops or cake balls are simple and taste great.   Bake a cake, cool it and crumble.  Add enough frosting or icing to make it molding consistency.  Adding a cookie stick transforms it to a pop and then dip into chocolate candy coating.  Voila!  You have a cake pop.

Some of the variations include crushing brownies or brand name cookies such as Oreos instead of cake.  My variation is a little less sweet tasting and has more natural ingredients.

Bakerella’s recipe for cake pops uses boxed cake mix (Duncan Hines, Betty Crocker, etc), store bought icing and candy coating (sometimes referred to as candy melts).  Boxed cake mix?  Blech!  There are unnatural ingredients and added sugars to make the cake fluffier, sweeter, and makes this a no fail option for inexperienced cake bakers.  Even the well known brands have these ingredients.  Some of the cheaper brands have imitation flavors as well whereas that chocolate cake doesn’t even have chocolate in it.  You can find so many cake recipes on the internet.  Take the extra time to make your own, it’s worth it.  My cake ball truffles were made using real home-made chocolate cake.  Let the cake cool and then crumble with your hands or use a blender.

Next time you walk down the baking aisle in your grocery store look at the ingredients of the tub of frosting.  It’s made up of corn syrups, fructose, sugars, and shortenings.  Not much if any butter in it.  The purpose of the frosting is to bind the crumbled cake together to mold it into shapes.  I didn’t want my cake ball truffles to be too sweet so instead I used heavy cream.  I poured a tablespoon at a time until the cake was moist enough to mold into balls.  No more, no less.  Roll 1 inch balls of cake in your hands.  Place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet and refigerate for about an hour to harden balls.

Candy coating is an easy and inexpensive way to melt and dip cake balls, pretzels, nut clusters, or just mold candy into shapes.  Candy coating is mostly vegetable fat, corn syrup, and imitation flavoring although some of the better brands have real cocoa added.  The benefit of using it is that tempering is not necessary and it melts smoother and faster but it tastes like crap to me.  

 A chocolate ganache is a combination of chocolate and heavy cream.  It’s delicious too.  Dip balls into cooled ganache.  Allow excess to drip off and place on wax paper lined cookie tray.  You can then roll balls into cocoa powder, jimmies or non-pareils.  Refigerate until ganache is firm.

Remember, the quality of the ingredients you use makes a difference.  Try using chocolate with a high percentage of cacao, unrefined sugar and pure vanilla extract.  The results are worth it.

Hot Cross Buns

Hot cross buns are sweet, spiced buns with currants or raisins and eaten while they are still hot.  

There is a long history of hot cross buns that pre-date Christianity.  It is believed that buns were marked with a cross and eaten by Saxons in honour of the goddess Eostre (the cross is thought to have symbolized the four quarters of the moon).  In Christian countries hot cross buns are eaten on Good Friday with the cross representing the Crucifixion.

Remember this nursery rhyme?     

Not particulary fond of dried fruit in baked goods?  Try the Australian variation by using chocolate chips instead and leaving out the candied fruit.

3/4 cup (180 ml) milk
1 package(1/4 oz.) (7 grams) active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon granulated white sugar
3 1/2 cups (455 grams) all purpose flour
1/4 cup(55 grams) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) (56 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1/2 cup(85 grams) candied fruit 
1/4 cup (25 grams) raisins or currants or chocolate chips

Egg Wash
1 large egg
1 tablespoon milk or cream

Glaze
1/2 cup (60 grams) confectioners sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon milk or cream

In a small saucepan heat the milk until lukewarm (about 100 degrees F or 38 degrees C).  Add the yeast and 1/2 teaspoon sugar and stir to combine.  Set aside for about 10 minutes or until the yeast is activated and is foamy.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the flour, brown sugar, spices, and salt.  Once the yeast is foamy, add to the flour mixture and beat to combine.  Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  With the mixer on low, gradually add the butter, mixing until the butter is incorporated and the dough comes together.  With the dough attachment, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes).  Transfer the dought to a lightly floured surface and, by hand, gradually knead in the candied and dried fruit, or chocolate chips  

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning the dough once, so the top is lightly greased.  Cover with plastic wrap or a clean dish towel and place in a warm spot to rise until it has doubled in size (about 1 1/2 hours).

When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down, and divide into 12 equal pieces.  Form each piece into a small round ball and place on a parchment lined baking sheet (Place three buns to a row, four rows altogether.  They should be spaced so they have enough room to double in size). Make an egg wash of one beaten egg with 1 tablespoon milk, and brush the tops of the buns with the wash.  Cover with plastic wrap or a clean dish towel and place in a warm spot until almost doubled in size (about 30-60 minutes).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Brush the tops of the buns with the egg wash again and, with clean kitchen shears, or a sharp, lightly greased knife, cut a ‘cross’ in the tops of each bun.  Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the buns are nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Place on a wire rack to cool. 

Glaze: Combine the confectioners sugar and milk and mix until smooth.  Place the glaze in a paper cone or a small plastic bag.  Cut the end of the cone or bag and pipe a ‘cross’ on the cut marks of each bun. 

Makes 12 buns.