Now I’m Ready To Start. How About With Some Gingerbread Hostess Cupcakes ?

Posted on January 6, 2011 by I Sing In The Kitchen

 

Just what the world needs….another blogger. Well, humor me. Come on into my kitchen, sing with me and make some Hostess-Style Gingerbread Cupcakes.

In Ireland January 6th, or the twelfth day of Christmas, was once known as Nollaigna mBan or Women’s Christmas. I guess to recover from taking care of all of that yule time nonsense the women needed their own day to recover. The ladies would have a fancy high tea featuring lots of lovely scones with cream and jam, tea sandwiches, delectable buns and fragrant gingerbread.

How about our own Nollaigna mBan? Let’s invite the guys, too. They can bring some whiskey and do the washing up.

I read about these Gingerbread Hostess Cupcakes at
Bake at 350 and jumped on the Gingerbread wagon.

Gingerbread Cupcakes

Line cupcake pans with 24 liners. Use your favorite Gingerbread Recipe or, even easier, a boxed mix. To make 24 cupcakes you will need two boxes of mix. I tried one box each of Dromedary and Betty Crocker to do a little taste test.

As you can see from the side by side info below, there is not much difference between the two mixes.

The Dromedary Mix only needs water added. The batter was thick and, therefore, very easy to ladle into the cupcake liners. Betty Crocker, on the other hand, needed water and one egg. The batter was lighter in color and much thinner.  For those of you with experience with infants do you remember a classic baby blow out? Well, that is what the Betty batter resembles only with a gingery taste.

For Dromedary Mix, bake at 400℉ for 15 minutes. Betty Crocker needs 20 minutes.

I loved the crackled top of Dromeds, though the appearance is hidden under the chocolate coating. In photo below, BC is on the left, Drom on the right.

Final verdict: Dromedary. Both mix cupcakes tasted really good, but you never know if you might need that egg for something else.

Filling

4 Tbs butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 Tbs heavy cream
1 cup marshmallow creme

Using a mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar. Add the vanilla and 1 tablespoon heavy cream; beat until smooth. Beat in the remaining 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar and 2 tablespoons heavy cream in batches, alternating after each addition. Beat in the marshmallow creme.

Spoon the filling into a pastry bag with a medium tip; I used an elongated tip.

Insert the tip into the center of each cupcake top and fill until the cupcake starts to expand (do not overfill).

Topping

16 oz  white chocolate, chopped
2 Tbs Crisco

Melt the chocolate and Crisco in the microwave, stirring after every 30 seconds until smooth. ( I work with half of the quantity at a time so that the chocolate stays melted in my cold kitchen).

Dip the tops of the cupcakes in the chocolate. Allow to set up for a few minutes.

Icing

4 oz unsalted butter
2 Tbs milk
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
brown food coloring

Using a mixer, beat the butter, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, milk, confectioners’ sugar and cinnamon until smooth, adding more milk if needed. Add food coloring to obtain the desired shade. Spoon into a pastry bag with a # 2 or 3 tip. Pipe onto the cupcakes to decorate.

I made this batch for a friend’s Christmas party a few weeks ago. Delicious inside and out.

Doesn’t that make you want to sing? In honor of the blog’s first post I could play the song ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ by The Carpenters. But I want you to cook, not put you into a coma.

It is no secret that I have been hanging out in The Suburbs since August. If you haven’t checked out the latest Arcade Fire then you need to grab your mother’s keys. Let’s go for a drive to buy the disk before you start the recipe. Remember this: I would rather be wrong than live in the shadow of your song….My mind is open wide and now I’m…..digressing. So enough blathering. Go blast this. Cheers and Bon Appétit!

The Arcade Fire-Ready To Start

I chose to include the song Cake because, well, it’s CAKE!! But, this review (from Norman Records) of the song always cracks me up. “A classic sounding slice (groan….) of motorik glam pop and camp R ‘n’ B with a dash psychedelia that couldn’t sound more 70’s if it donned flares & shit facial hair and started going out to lunch with Jeff Lynne.” Alrighty then.

Race Horses-Cake

I highly recommend playing the Little Joy song when you are dipping the cupcakes in the melted chocolate and any other time you  need a mood boost. Fabrizio, Binki and Rodrigo have a tune here that is so freakin’ happy that you have to smile.  I guarantee you’ll be singing/stroking out to this one in your kitchen.

Little Joy-Brand New Start