Gingerbread Cupcakes

This is the December cupcake entry for the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club! The purpose of this club is to bake through Martha's entire book of cupcake recipes. Every month, a few dozen bloggers bake the same cupcake and blog about it. This is my fourth month doing so, and it's been sooo incredibly fun! I've made quite a few blogger friends along the way!

I'm waaaay too excited about these cupcakes to ramble on (like I always do at the beginning of blog entries), so I'm just going to dive right in! =)

(1) The Gingerbread Cupcakes

Mix together the dry ingredients, including a variety of warm, fragrant spices like ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Smells delicious already!

In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.


Add the molasses. Kinda crazy looking!


Then the eggs and vanilla.


Gradually add in the flour, mix until combined.


Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Set aside to cool while you make the decorations!


(2) The Gingerbread Cookies

If you missed the previous entry that I did on these, be sure to check it out! I actually made both the cookies and the cupcakes on the same day, then decorated! It took me literally the entire day, from 9am until 6:30pm. But it was the best baking day ever! My entire house smelled like Christmas and I was able to spend some quality time with a friend that I don't get to see very often! I LOVED these cookies. They were SO delicious and stayed fresh really well!

I split the cookies and the cupcakes up into two different posts because it would've been a super long entry if I did both together. Plus, the cookies were so pretty and delicious that I thought they deserved their own little spotlight. hehe.

(3) The Cupcake Wrappers

As you guys all know, I'm the queen of cupcake wrappers! In fact, these cupcakes deserved something spectacular because it was for Christmas! (Please see this previous Cupcake Wrapper entry for details on how to make them.)

I found a cute snowflake cut-out and some pretty snowflake stickers with rhinestones!

I didn't want to use the traditional red and green colors, so I opted for two different shades of blue. They complimented each other really well and turned out great. For some of the wrapper edges, I used regular craft scissors, and for others, I used the snowflake cut-out. Super cute!


They looked great when I fitted them onto the cupcakes! Now I'm ready to frost and decorate!

(3) The Cinnamon Swiss Meringue Frosting

I didn't want to use the frosting suggested in the book- I rarely do. It looked like a regular American style buttercream, which I hate. yuck! Way too sweet. So I decided to make my own SMB, one that was cinnamon flavored, to compliment the cupcake. SMB definitely takes more time to make, but it's totally worth it! I get emails from readers all the time, saying how I've converted them from being a cupcake hater to a cupcake lover with my SMB recipes! It's light and fluffy and will totally rock your world!

The buttercream is a bit involved. Please see this prior entry for step by step instructions on how to make it, if it's your first time doing so.

Once the buttercream is ready to go, add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, and 1/8 tsp nutmeg. Blend well for about 30 seconds. Reeeeeeeally delicious frosting that you'll want to eat straight out of the bowl!

(4) Decorate, Decorate, Decorate!

Saying that these cupcakes were SO incredibly delicious would be an understatement. If you like gingerbread, you'll looooove these! I think the frosting really made these cupcakes spectacular! It was light, subtly cinnamony, and really brought out the flavor of the gingerbread in the cookie and cupcake. These are a definite must-have at Christmas dinner!


Click HERE for the recipes seen in this blog entry.

Candied Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting

This is my third month as a member of the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club and I absolutely love it! What could be better than a club that bakes nothing but cupcakes?? =) Every month on the 15th, every member bakes the same exact recipe and then blogs about it. It's been super fun to see all the different creative variations and interpretations of the same recipe.

This Month: Candied Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting

Ok, I have to admit that I totally had my reservations about this recipe when I first read through it. Sweet potato? In a cupcake? I never would've thought to use sweet potato as an ingredient. And even though I've baked a ton of recipes from Martha's Cupcake book already, I have to admit that if it wasn't for this club, I probably would never give this one a second glance, let alone attempt it. But since my enthusiasm for cupcake baking has brought me to this club, I felt compelled to give it a chance. Besides, I wouldn't want to get kicked out for not participating. =)

(1) The Candied Sweet Potato Cupcakes

The first step is to poke a sweet potato with a fork and bake it in the oven for about an hour until it's super soft and mushy. It pained me greatly to post this incredibly ugly photo on my blog. hehe. You guys all know how I feel about ugly photos. (See here to find out why.) Sweet potatoes are not the least bit photogenic!

Peel it, mash it up, and set it aside.


As with all cakes/cupcakes, mix the dry ingredients.



Cream together both sugars and butter until fluffy.


Add in the other liquid ingredients like eggs and vanilla.

Next, mix in the sweet potato.


Lastly, mix in the dry ingredients.


Bake & Cool! It was a really simple recipe. =)



(2) The Mascarpone Frosting

The recommended frosting was marshmallow. Yes, that's right. Marshmallow. Like.. pile a bunch on top and then fire up your blow torch. The only time I eat marshmallow is on a s'more or in rice crispy treats. I wanted something better for these. So I chose mascarpone. You really can't go wrong with it.

I haven't featured it very much on my blog, but it's one of my favorite frostings! It's incredibly creamy, light, and fluffy- not super overpoweringly sweet. Right up my alley. And if these cupcakes turn out to be nasty, I knew I could count on the mascarpone to salvage it. It was my plan B.

First, whip up a big batch of whipped cream. You know it's going to be fantastic when you have fresh whipped cream involved. =)



While you've got the whipped cream going, in a seperate bowl, combine mascarpone and powdered sugar. Wisk together until well blended.



Once the whipped cream is done, fold it into the mascarpone mixture until well blended.


The finished product doesn't look a whole lot different than the powdered sugar and mascarpone mixture, but it makes a huge difference in taste. Mmm...whipped cream and mascarpone. You really can't beat that combination!

Now you're ready to frost!

But wait! How about some fancy cupcake wrappers, first? It's officially autumn and we must celebrate the season. =)

(3) Make some fancy cupcake wrappers!

I found these super cute leaf-shaped brackets in bronze, gold, and silver at Impress. I knew instantly that they would be perfect for these wrappers.


First, I used my cupcake pattern to cut out the wrapper shape in two different colors: brown and orange. Please see the main cupcake wrapper post on more "how-to" details.



Next, I took a ball point pen and drew branches & leaves onto the wrappers. Then I pushed the brackets into the wrappers, to imitate leaves on the branches.

Lastly, I fitted them onto my cupcakes. Now, I'm ready to frost!

*sigh* I just love to frost cupcakes.

OMG. So....these were THE. BEST. CUPCAKES. EVER. No kidding. My friends, who have tried a lot of my different cupcake varieties, unanimously agreed that this is by far the best. The flavor was SO unique. And the mascarpone frosting just took it to the next level- it was subtly sweet and soo creamy-smooth. And the cupcake itself was super flavorful, moist, and delicious! It was perfect. Just perfect.

This reminded me of the September post where I was super weirded out by using zucchini in a cupcake, but then it turned out to be super delicious, too. I will never unfairly judge another Martha recipe ever again. I have mentally made a pledge to attempt every single cupcake recipe in that book, no matter how long it takes me! =)



For the recipes shown in this entry, click HERE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's a recap if you've missed the other MSCC entires:

September: Zucchini Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

October: Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pumpkin Swiss Meringue Buttercream