Choclate Spice Cupcakes with Ginger

"Over the years some of the most popular recipes in Martha Stewart Living have featured the combination of chocolate, ginger and other spices, including cookies, brownies and spice cakes. These dapper upside-down cupcakes are the latest variation on the theme." - Martha


First of all, I have to say that I love, love, love the way my photograph turned out. I think it's better than the one in the book! These cupcakes were really very easy to make. They do have alot of ingredients, but everything is pretty standard as pantries go. Probably the "harder-to-come-by" items would be the unsulfured molasses (which I simply substituted the only molasses I had in the pantry for a previous cupcake....regular old molasses), maybe you'd have to get the dark brown sugar (alot of people only keep light brown in their pantry but for this recipe, dark brown is a must especially if you want the dark molasses flavor and again if you don't have unsulfured molasses...oh brother!), but of course the candied ginger may seem a bit out of reach for some folks too.



But I am here to say that believe it or not, you can get candied ginger in both the refrigerated area of the produce section in the grocery store and over in the spice aisle. McCormick Gourmet Collection and Spice Islands both carried it! So how about that? But you know, Martha actually has a "recipe" for candy-ing your own ginger...try that sometime when don't have anything else to do.



This recipe may not appeal to all tastes, but I liked them alot. And the bonus is that, at first glance, most people (my kiddos) think that they are simply chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing and they try 'em! ha-ha-ha I sneaked a couple of spices in there and now they've eaten gourmet again! It's nice that this recipe only makes 12 cupcakes so cutting it in half only made 6. That was just enough to photograph, for everyone to get one, and for me to have a mid-night snack later. That's usually the most important factor....Enjoy!

Lavender Iced Cupcakes

"I'm ba-ack!"

"Appearances can be deceiving: these sugared flower-topped cupcakes look like dainty petits four, but the lavender-flavored and colored icing hides a rich cupcake. look for dried lavender at specialty markets or line; edible pesticide-free flowers can be found at baking supply stores. You can also make the icing without the lavender." -- Martha



So it's a coincidence that the cupcakes I chose to make had crystalized flowers on them in her book's photo as I re-read over my previous blog post from way back in November 2009. I wasn't about to go there again trying to grow or keep any pansies or the such when I already know my calling is in the kitchen NOT the yard! I know I have a brown-thumb and there it will stay, never changing, no matter how much work I put into it. (And I have put work into it. So much failure I even resorted to asking for a Chia Herb Garden for my Christmas present and still managed not to grow anything but a few sprigs of chives...teeny, tiny chives that lasted all of a week. And everybody knows that growing chives is super easy.)


But where I do have fun and enjoy the fruits of my labor is in my kitchen baking and cooking. I think I own just about every contraption (thanks, Karen) that has been made for baking and so rather than simply placing these cupcakes in cupcake papers, I chose to use the oft un-used cast-iron mini-rosette bundt pan. These specialty pans rarely come out of the big drawer and so today I allowed them to soak in the light-of-day...something I guess I should do with my garden plants once in a while!


These cupcakes are so moist and rich with flavor; the lavender icing really sets them apart on the scale of good to great. Infusing boiled milk steeping with lavender and then adding the powdered sugar to it, refreshed the air around the house and the cloud in my brain after so many months of grayness. I iced the vanilla cupcakes in the photo as well as some chocolate brownies and both were a taste of fantasia. But you might say, "Where does one get the lavender to use? Martha says specialty stores or on-line. But I shop kitcheny stores all the time and have never seen lavender for sale. I would say your best-bet is to order on-line...if you have the time and can plan that far ahead. Otherwise, you can visit your favorite french cafe like I did and take some from off of the display at the hostess desk. (You only need about 1 teaspoon.) Yes, I did that! Slap my hand now....it was for an experiment in the kitchen, all in the name of science.

I highly recommend using this icing the next time you want to impress the PTA or church bake sale or even your relatives (who rarely impress because they are all so talented in their own right.) Go ahead - git 'er done!