Gingerbread Cocoa Cupcakes with Gingerbread Frosting

Gingerbread Cocoa Cupcakes with Gingerbread Frosting

These cupcakes are SO GOOD. MAKE THEM. Oh my goodness. One of the most delicious things I have ever tasted.

Cupcakes:

1 cup strong brewed hot coffee

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tbsp molasses

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Stir the cocoa powder into the coffee until it dissolves. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, spices, baking soda, and baking powder.

In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Stir in the molasses, then add the eggs, one at a time. My eggs were too cold, so the mixture didn't really combine properly until I added the flour mixture to thicken it; if this happens to you, don't worry. Add the flour and coffee mixtures and stir until all the ingredients are just incorporated. It will be a very liquid batter.

Fill cupcake tins with 1/4 cup batter each.

Bake 9 minutes, turn, bake 9 minutes. Let cool.

Makes 18.

Frosting:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter

3 cups xxx sugar

6 tbsp heavy cream (you may need a little more, give or take)

1 tbsp vanilla paste

1 cup crushed gingerbread cookies

Whip the butter in a standing mixture for about 6 minutes on medium speed. It will get very light-colored and creamy-looking.

Add sugar and cream and mix until combined. Add vanilla. Whip again on medium for about 8 minutes. The frosting will get body as the cream starts to whip, so you will know when it's ready; it will be very light and creamy.

Add the crushed cookies (a food processor is your friend: I did the crushing by hand and it takes FOREVER) and mix in well.

Use a piping bag with a wide tip to make spirals of frosting on top of each cupcake.

Garnish with stick cinnamon.

I had several beheaded gingerbread men left over afterwards, so I garnished a few of my cupcakes with them. I just really enjoyed the way they looked sneakily peeking over the top of the frosting. I just couldn't resist.

Recipe adapted from Bakingdom.com

Chocolate-Filled Almond Cupcakes

Chocolate-Filled Cupcakes

I didn't have any cocoa powder (WHAT) so I swapped Nutella in as filling for these cupcakes. I actually think that was a mistake, as they were WAY too sweet. I'm going to give the original recipe's chocolate filling, but I'm not sure whether even a bittersweet ganache might have been better.

Cupcakes:

1 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg + 1 egg white

4 tbsp butter, melted and cooled

1/3 cup plain yogurt

1 tbsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs. Beat until fully mixed in. Stir in yogurt. Add the dry ingredients and beat until just mixed. Stir in extract.

Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 full. Bake 10 minutes, turn, bake 10 minutes.

Let cool.

Makes 12.

Filling:

1 tsp hot water

3 1/2 oz (about half a 7 oz jar) marshmallow fluff

1/4 cup shortening

3 tbsp xxx sugar

2 tbsp cocoa

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix all the ingredients together and beat until smooth.

Core a hole in the center of each cupcake and fill with a spoonful of the filling. 

Cap cupcakes with reserved cores.

Frosting:

1/2 stick butter

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

2-3 cups xxx sugar

Cream as needed for consistency

Beat butter until soft, then add xxx sugar and cream and beat until you get a soft, pipeable texture. Add vanilla bean paste. The paste has those little black speck-seeds in it, and gives you frosting that great French vanilla look.

Pipe a spiral on top of each cupcake.

Decorate as desired.

Adapted from Evil Shenanigans

S'mores Cupcakes

S'mores Cupcakes

Although these cupcakes look really great, I kind of wish I had used something with a more marshmallow taste for the topping. I think I will continue to experiment with the recipe and see if I can't use marshmallow cream to make something a little more authentic! This boiled frosting is fine, but it's not really the true s'mores taste.

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cup flour

1 1/3 cup graham flour (I used Bob's Red Mill from my local whole foods store)

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/4 cup (2 1/2 stick) butter

2 cups packed brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

6 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Sift together both flours, baking powder, and cinnamon. In another bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, and honey until fluffy -- mixture is quite thick. Add in eggs and vanilla, and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 full. Bake 13 min, turn, bake another thirteen minutes. Let cool.

Makes 24

Chocolate Ganache:

6 oz bittersweet chocolate

4 tbsp heavy cream

1 tbsp corn syrup

Cook all the ingredients in a saucepan until fully melted. Let cool.

Spread a generous amount on top of each of your cupcakes, covering the above-the-wrapper part completely.

Marshmallow Frosting:

1 tbsp unflavored gelatin

1/3 cup + 1/4 cup cold water

1 cup sugar

Sprinkle the gelatin over the 1/3 cup water in a mixing bowl. In a saucepan, heat the 1/4 cup water and sugar in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolve. Use a candy thermometer to determine when the mixture gets to 238 F (soft ball if you drip a bit in a cup of cold water). Remove from the heat and pour into the mixing bowl with the gelatin. Use an electric mixer to whip it until it's glossy and stiff. Use right away.

Spoon the mixture into a piping bag with a wide tip and pipe a spiral on top of each cupcake. I didn't get my stiff enough, so as you can see my spirals kind of melted. 

But no matter! After the cupcakes are topped, use a kitchen torch to brown the marshmallow so it gets that campfire look.  As I said before, I was worried that there wasn't enough of a marshmallow taste, so for the last few cupcakes I torched some old marshmallows that we had lying around. I'm not sure I recommend it. 

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Almond-Hazelnut Cupcakes with Secret Fudge Frosting

Almond Hazelnut Cupcakes with Secret Fudge Frosting

I've had some really bad experiences using ground nuts/nut flour in recipes, so I was reluctant to try this recipe at first. I'm glad I did! The use of two other flours takes care, I think, of some of the problems I've had in the past, and the chocolate frosting really pulls it together. Unfortunately, the frosting is one of my mother's old Charleston receipts, and I did not get permission to share it -- in fact, I didn't even make it. After one unsuccessful attempt, I had to ask her to make it for me.

Cupcakes:

1/2 cup toasted almonds

1/2 cup  toasted hazelnuts

3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup cake flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup milk

4 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Using a food processor or something roughly equivalent, pulse nuts until they are finely ground. Be careful not to go too long, or the oils in the nuts create a kind of paste. Sift together both flours and baking powder, then whisk in the ground nuts.

Cream butter and sugars. Beat in vanilla. Alternate in flour mixture and milk and beat until well combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until they reach soft peaks. Gently fold them into the batter, being careful not to over mix. The egg whites lighten the batter because of all the air in them, and if you are too rough with them they'll just flatten out again.

Fill cupcake tins about 3/4 full. Bake for 13 minutes, then turn tins and bake 13 minutes. Let cool.

Makes 18.

Frosting:

Martha Stewart suggests a dark chocolate frosting. Her recipe is just a simple butter cream with cocoa and melted bittersweet chocolate added. You can also do a more complicated cooked frosting (that's what my mother's is). Honestly, simply spreading nutella on these babies would work.

When the cupcakes are cool, gently slice them in half using a serrated knife. Spread the centers generously with your favorite frosting, then press the two halves together and frost on top. Decorate with a toasted hazelnut.

Cupcakes adapted from Martha Stewart.

Frosting recipe a closely-guarded family secret.