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
Tricia, I know this will be a place I visit often, since you always entice me with your food porn!
These cupcakes look delicious, and I can almost taste them as I listen to the tunes. :-) I can feel the 5 pounds I lost over the last month coming back…..
Welcome to blogovia!
Thanks, Nat!
I actually have a Duncan Hines spice cake in the cupboard (I know, can you believe it??) and all the other ingredients, so I could do this but I don’t have a pastry bag. Oh, man!
Terra, I bet you would have equally good results if you just cut out a little cone of cake and fill with a spoon. The chocolate coating hides everything anyway.
i love it!!!! filled cupcakes would be like heroin to me . . . highly addictive!
you’re off to a great start and i can’t wait to see what’s next!
Tricia!!!! You did it!!!
I need to remember not to read this on mornings when I’ve only had a granola bar…
The food looks amazing and you have done a fantastic job! Looking forward to more from your musical kitchen
p.s. i forgot to say, what a wonderful concept to start off with, women’s christmas. how nice if it were still in practice!
That is why January 6th, specifically, was the start date. Wish you all could come over for some high tea today.
Well done! You know I’ve always loved your writing (I still have a boxful…). The cupcakes are gorgeous! I look forward to the next installment!
T – I love this concept! But, the cupcakes are killing me (that’s the problem with not eating breakfast and then viewing these delectable morsels). Keep it up – can’t wait to see future installments. -M
Thanks so much for all of the kind and supportive comments. I should start something new like this every Thursday. It has made the day a lot of fun.
Tricia finally stakes out her own bit of the blogosphere – and what a lovely bit it is, too! Huzzah!!
More cakewriting please, coz it means I can indulge in yer baked goods without incurring the carb cost. :-)
When you make mix cd’s for people, you should probably include a small cookbook :)
Ha! That very thought has crossed my mind. Maybe you will be the first recipient.
Woohoo!!! That would be great! I would love to be able to cook awesome stuff and maybe linking it to music is the trick to getting there!
Yowsah Yowsah Yowsah!!!!
This has to be a unique combination……..well done Tricia. You said you would and you have. Congrats………..
Thank you, JC! Maybe I can still do a Sunday Correspondents post on TVV and add some sugar. You really were and are my inspiration.
Haha i thought you were posting a song by the band Cake. I didn’t notice that youhad put the artist second. Silly James :)
I will have that fixed on future posts. I had already spent way too much time getting this ready and I was too lazy to go and reverse the order.
I definitely think there will be Cake (the band) at some point. Just because they are CAKE (and have some really good songs).
I wasn’t looking at it as a flaw in your post. Some people put the artist second and some people put it first. I certainly recognize the truth of that from all the FF submissions.
Then there are the people that switch back and forth. Those are the confusing people. You’re not confusing :)
Wow! you got t all to work! I love the music — just wish I could eat all of your goodies!
Awesome! I loved the bit comparing the batter to “classic baby blow out”, and was relieved to read that yours was gingery. :) Superbly done, to boot! I will be looking forward to the next installment!
I usually taste batter, but have never obligingly sampled blow out. Ugh! Thanks, Rick. New stuff will be up tomorrow.
Tricia!!
This sounded like such a great idea when you talked about it on the CP. I’m so glad you’re doing it and am sorry it’s taken me so long to find you. Love your first two posts and look forward to more yummy things and lots great tunes. Congratulations!
(The blowout reference made me laugh too, very close to home)
Thanks, Greer! (I knew my friends in the thick of the baby years would definitely know what I was talking about!!)
Awesome job! I love visiting your website. I hope to visit frequently to get recipe ideas and music ideas to fill my ipod!!
Thanks, Patty!
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