Christmas Cupcakes

It is that time of year again...

These are like gingerbread, but cupcakes! They have a delicious Italian Meringue Buttercream, which is very hard to stop eating. The recipe comes from the Preppy Kitchen blog (https://preppykitchen.com/christmas-cake/). I have made cupcakes instead of cake, and I halved the Buttercream. This recipe makes 15 or 16 cupcakes (I dropped a big blob of batter and only got 15, but you could stretch to 16).

Ingredients:

For the Cupcakes:

3/4 cup / 180g boiling water

1 Tbsp baking soda

2 cups / 240g plain flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 Tbsp ground ginger

2 1/2 tsps ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp ground cloves

3/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup / 113g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup / 100g light brown sugar

2/3 cup / 187g molasses (or black treacle)

2 large eggs, at room temperature

For the Italian Meringue Buttercream:

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

1 cup plus 2 Tbsp / 220g granulated or caster sugar

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 cup / 60g water

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1 cup / 225g unsalted butter, at room temperature

Instructions:

For the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350˚F / 180˚C and line or grease a muffin tray.

Combine the baking soda and boiling water in a jug and set aside to cool a bit.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium high until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy, c. 3 minutes.

Beat in the eggs and molasses.

The mixture will look gross and watery and chunky.

Beat in the flour mixture on a low speed, until no white streaks remain.

Fill the muffin cups 2/3-3/4 of the way and bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a cupcake comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

For the Italian Meringue Buttercream:

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy, then add the cream of tartar. Continue beating and slowly add 1/4 cup / 50g of sugar with the mixer running. Beat until soft peaks form.

In a saucepan over medium low heat, add the remaining 170g sugar and 60ml water.

Stir until the sugar dissolves and the liquid becomes clear.

Turn to medium heat and cook until the temperature reads 235-240˚F / 113-115 ˚C.

Do not stir the sugar water, and keep a close eye on it.

Turn the stand mixer back to medium high and slowly drizzle in the sugar while beating.

Let the mixer run until the meringue reaches room temperature, c. 10 minutes.

Add the cardamom, cinnamon, allspice and cloves.

Change to a paddle attachment, and with the mixture on medium speed add the butter 1 Tbsp at a time until incorporated.

The mixture will go soupy and then it will begin to firm up towards the end. If it stays soupy, put it in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes and then beat it again.

Ice and decorate the cupcakes as you want to.