As the autumn fades into winter, not only does the weather changes, but also ones frame of mind!. Christmas appears to be around the corner and one starts getting the festive and holiday vibes early on! To quote the Santa from the movie Miracle on 34th Street, “Christmas isn’t just a day. Its a frame of mind”. And I get into this frame of mind very fast ! I l simply love the smell of cinnamon and ginger that wafts through the house when you bake Christmas goodies, especially the gingerbread cookies and cakes.
Gingerbread cakes and cookies are typically flavoured with ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg and they are sweetened with honey, treacle, molasses, malt syrup or brown sugar. Most countries around the world have got their take on the gingerbread range of products. For example, in England they are served as cookies called the gingerbread man around Christmas time. In the US, they are served as cakes called the gingerbread cake or simply ginger cake. The French version is called pain d’epices, in Netherlands its called pepperkoek, in Germany Lebkuchen, Polish version is Torun gingerbread so on and so forth.
I am going to share a recipe for the gingerbread cupcakes. You have to remember that these cupcakes are very bold in flavour because of the use of ginger and spices and of course the molasses as well. For more information on molasses please refer to my blog on Sweet Syrups used in baking.
Ingredients
For the cake :
- All Purpose Flour 165 g
- Baking Soda 1 tsp
- Ginger powder – 1/2 tbsp
- Cinnamon 1/2 tsp
- Cloves – 1/8 tsp
- salt – a pinch
- Brown Sugar 95 g
- Malt Syrup/Molasses/Honey/Treacle – 95 g
- Oil – 2 tbsp
- Egg whites – 2
- Butter Milk – 125 ml
For the Icing - Fresh ginger juice 3 tsp
- Icing Sugar 60 g
Method
- Sift together all the dry ingredients like flour, soda, all the spices and salt.
- Beat together sugar, molasses and oil. Add egg whites one by one and continue beating with a whisk or wire whip of the beater till the mixture becomes lighter.
- Fold in flour alternatively with the butter milk. Deposit the batter in muffin tray lined with muffin liners.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees°C for 25-30 min or till done. Cool them on wire racks.
- For the topping, mix together the ginger juice and icing sugar. Spread the icing on cooled cupcakes and serve.
Ginger lovers will absolutely love these cup cakes. The dark colour, flavour and chewiness is due to the molasses. Molasses can be substituted by honey, malt syrup or treacle. The season is just right to have these spicy morsels. Do give them a try…
