Spice Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
What I made for dinner was chicken tagine with chick peas and preserved lemon, with chopped cilantro stems tossed into the rice when I opened the lid to fluff it, then cover again to let it steam a bit before it was called into service. I didn’t eat with the boys, though; I’m heading out to the “Bum Ball” – the Bill Brooks 12th Annual Prostate Cancer Benefit at the Hotel Arts tonight – a date with K.
The theme: gloves – meaning we are asked to don our fanciest (or most latex) gloves – which of course I have none of, unless you count the rubber gloves under the sink I never use – so it was off to Winners this afternoon for a pair. (And they’re on sale! They had some funky long ones to choose from. I got black cable knit cotton ones with the fingers cut off – not exactly glitz but very me, and functional when hors d’oeuvres are involved – then painted my nails brilliant pink. I’m trying not to wreck them as I type.)
Funny story: the dollar store is next to Winners, and so I popped in to buy chew toys for Lou. By the till there was a bin of socks, and so since we go through approximately three times as many little boy socks now, who conversely grow out of them three times as quickly, I bought a couple 3-packs. (You do the math- it’s a good deal, right? Except that I don’t want to think about exactly why they can sell socks for 33 cents a pair.) On the way home, stopped at a light with the open Dollar Giant bag on the seat beside me, I started popping off the packaging. And then, as one might do, mindlessly started tucking together the socks in twos, having just liberated them from their cardboard band. I wish I could have captured the expression of the lady in the SUV beside me, looking down into the window of my Subaru Outback, where I was folding laundry at a red light. Now that’s multitasking.
But right – the cupcakes. It was my Mom and sister’s birthdays last night, and we made them using a spice cake recipe that at some point became traditional for their day. My mom loves penuche icing, which I learned upon growing up no one has a clue about – it’s a brown sugar frosting, made with both brown sugar and icing sugar. I added cream cheese as well this time – a big blob of it, and half as much butter, with a handful of brown sugar, a squirt of Roger’s Golden syrup and as much icing sugar as I needed to make a spreadable frosting.
Or, one that could be easily scooped into a ziploc baggie and squeezed out through a snipped-off corner to make squiggly swirls instead of the traditional star-tipped twirl. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Mom & Anne’s Birthday Spice Cupcakes
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. nutmeg and/or allspice
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter or non-hydrogenated margarine, softened
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milkPreheat the oven to 350°F. Spray two 8” or 9” round cake pans or one 9? x 13? pan with nonstick spray.
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. In a larger bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer for about half a minute, until it’s pale and creamy. Pour in the sugar and continue to beat for 3-4 minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl whenever it needs it.
Stir the vanilla into the milk. Add about one-third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir it in by hand or with the electric mixer on low speed, just until it’s combined. Add about half the milk in the same manner, then another third of the flour, the rest of the milk, and the rest of the flour, mixing just until the batter is blended.
Divide the batter between the prepared tins, filling them about 3/4 full, and bake for 20-25 minutes until the cupcakes are golden and tops are springy to the touch. Makes 1 1/2 dozen cupcakes.
Yes, I have something for you this Free Stuff Friday – not much, but in keeping with the cupcakes theme. It’s a 2010 cupcake calendar. (And who, truly, doesn’t love them?) If I don’t give this away soon we’ll blow through 1/12th of the year and it won’t be of as much use. It’s very cute – consider it the Do-It-Yourself-Cupcake-of-the-Month-Club.
Leave a comment to enter; if you want to tell us what was for dinner, that’s great. If there’s something else on your mind, let’s have it.
January 23 2010 01:48 am | cake
Anonymous on 23 Jan 2010 at 2:03 am #
I am so going to try this cupcake recipe, but first, I have to look up the translation from English to Italian for baking powder and vanilla extract. I haven’t been able to find it in shops. It looks so good…..I definitely want the cupcake calendar. Cupcakes are my favourite dessert.
Please, I hope I win.
Cheers!!
Rambles with Reese on 23 Jan 2010 at 2:04 am #
I am so going to try this cupcake recipe, but first, I have to look up the translation from English to Italian for baking powder and vanilla extract. I haven’t been able to find it in shops. It looks so good…..I definitely want the cupcake calendar. Cupcakes are my favourite dessert.
Please, I hope I win.
Cheers!!
Rambles with Reese on 23 Jan 2010 at 2:06 am #
Oops, uuum, any hints on how to make the frosting? I’ve never made frosting before and I don’t see it anywhere on the recipe. Did I read it correctly?
Thanks!
julie on 23 Jan 2010 at 5:25 am #
Those cupcakes (both yours and the little puppies) are incredibly cute! And spice cake is my fave, so I am definitely going to try them out! I would love that calendar too, so pick me!!
Aimee on 23 Jan 2010 at 5:46 am #
Wow, a real ball–what fun!
I always knew you must be a multitasker to accomplish everything you do!
Kiera on 23 Jan 2010 at 7:21 am #
I had just put some coconut cupcakes in the oven when i clicked over to your post – perhaps they need some spice cupcake company?
love your blog – I’ve used many of your recipes with delicious results!
Donna on 23 Jan 2010 at 7:51 am #
Last night for supper we had good old baked macaroni and cheese, with broccoli and garlic sausage. Apple crisp – a family favorite, was dessert.
My blog aid art project (the quillow) is coming along well.-Pictures in a couple of days.
jacquie on 23 Jan 2010 at 8:29 am #
Hey Julie! We love cupcakes! It was my son’s 9th birthday this week so we made a double batch of yellow cupcakes with orange cream cheese icing. We packed them up in the nifty cupcake carrier I got for Christmas. Thirty cupcakes for the kids, teachers, bus driver and the ‘back-up principal’(vice-principal in T-speak). Thanks for a new cupcake recipe.
Marilynn on 23 Jan 2010 at 8:31 am #
I am going to try those spice cupcakes you made for your mom and sister – love that fragrance – and of course the icing tips…love your words!!!!!
jenny on 23 Jan 2010 at 8:39 am #
dinner last night was mashed potatoes. that’s all. being a college senior is kind of awesome like that. =) and i love cupcakes.
Jen C on 23 Jan 2010 at 8:55 am #
Well since the majority of the Friday’s at our house are “Pizza Night”, I’ll tell you what we had on Thursday night because it was soooooo tasty!
I’m good for the draw but we had bone-in chicken breasts stuffed and rubbed with parmesan, lemon zest, italian parsley and breadcrumbs (placing quartered lemons, head of garlic and a bit of white wine in the pan while it bakes). Served with roasted garlic buttermilk mashed potatoes and a green salad……..WICKED!!!!
Jess on 23 Jan 2010 at 9:39 am #
Hi Julie,
Dinner last night was from a local Indian Restaurant. A delicious beef curry and chicken korma, with vegetable samosas and naan.
I love the cupcakes! Thanks for the new recipe.
Jenn F on 23 Jan 2010 at 9:45 am #
I love spice cake! Can’t wait to try it.
Glenda on 23 Jan 2010 at 10:30 am #
We love cupcakes in our house. And that’s what we had instead of a wedding cake 6 years ago. Everyone thought it was a fun idea and that’s just what we wanted.
Dinner was homemade pizza. It’s the first time we used a pizza stone, and it made a huge difference. Yum!
K on 23 Jan 2010 at 11:01 am #
Thanks for a new frosting idea! I’m taking the Wilton cake decorating course and have been trying desperately to avoid their “class icing” which basically tastes like spackle. I will frost my next cake with penuche!
p.s. last class, i brought chocolate cupcakes (your recipe is amazing) to decorate; the final product was pretty and delicious!
Erin on 23 Jan 2010 at 11:32 am #
Felt obliged to cook vegetables last night after an uninspired week (month) of dinners (is January over yet?) so made baked fish and sweet potato fries. That cupcake calendar looks particularly inspiring though!
Angela on 23 Jan 2010 at 12:30 pm #
Supper was stew using your recipe. Yumm
Laurie on 23 Jan 2010 at 12:39 pm #
Don’t include me in the contest. I really don’t like cupcakes (although the picture shown is inspired!)
My dinner last night was a chicken stew made with Christmas left-overs and frozen. I thawed it last night and added fresh vegetables and herbs to it so that it tasted fresh instead of frozen. Unbelievably tasty! I was too full for desert (I really do have to watch how much I eat when something is delicious. I apparently have no “you’ll like this just as much again tomorrow” setting)
I love the multitasking!!! Hilarious! I literally laughed out loud and got a scared look from my cat. So that was quite literally LOLASTC
I love the way you describe making a piping bag out of a ziplock bag (which is what I do) “Not that there’s anything wrong with that”
Thank you for making my day yet again
Laurie on 23 Jan 2010 at 12:41 pm #
oh, PS
Sorry, I meant to ask for the tagine recipe. It sounded delicious and I’d love to try it.
Please and Thank you
Pat on 23 Jan 2010 at 12:59 pm #
Low cal chili and a salad as the effort to lose the Christmas poundage continues before the trip to Palm Springs begins. Keeping balance is my life-long goal.
Shobha on 23 Jan 2010 at 1:23 pm #
We had meatloaf and a baked pasta with roasted vegatables from Giada. A great pasta dish!
Thanks!
Sherry on 23 Jan 2010 at 2:19 pm #
I absolutely love cupcakes! Today I got some Coldstone Creamery ice cream. I hope that counts as an entry. It was birthday cake with actual bits of yellow cake and tons of cinnamon with pecans throughout. And of course I got whipped cream on top!
Lisa (AuthenticSuburbanGourmet) on 23 Jan 2010 at 2:46 pm #
Yummy! Love the twist on the frosting recipe!
margo on 23 Jan 2010 at 3:33 pm #
I know what penuche icing is, and it’s amazing. Can’t wait to try it with your tweaks. By the way, penuche frosting is the perfect taste atop of Julie’s mince cake, which I’m thinking it must be time to make again.
But because I’m trying to avoid sugar and get my post-Christmas skin problems cleared up, I’ll try to keep my focus on savory foods. Last night my wonderful husband made shake-n-bake chicken legs, whipped potatoes, and steamed veggies; bless his heart. : )
Mama JJ on 23 Jan 2010 at 4:12 pm #
Dinner? Toast, popcorn, trail mix, and whatever else gets scrounged.
You know, I’ve never tried preserved lemon. It’s a mystery to me.
Trissa on 23 Jan 2010 at 4:39 pm #
Such a sensational idea – I’ve never heard of brown sugar and cream cheese frosting – I wish I had known about it earlier!
Erica B. on 23 Jan 2010 at 4:58 pm #
(Please don’t enter me)
I love that these cupcakes are something more grownup – your chocolate cupcakes (from Day 111) are the kids’ fave btw. Last night’s dinner was also a DWJ special – biscuits from forage and creamed chicken (aka flannel sheets) although since I forgot to add the milk at the end(oops) it was technically a misnomer… a happy accident though, because the thyme really shone through – I could eat it either way
Amy on 23 Jan 2010 at 5:03 pm #
What I had for supper last night? Roast turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, creamed corn…all made by (wait for it)…my dear husband! With a little instruction beforehand, he can whip up a delicious dinner, and it was heaven to come home from work and smell the wonderful aromas proceeding from the kitchen. I am soooo spoiled!
Cheryl on 23 Jan 2010 at 5:41 pm #
Dinner tonight is minestrone that my mom (Baba) made and her pyrohy. Sigh. Being laid up isn’t that bad.
Manon from Ontario on 23 Jan 2010 at 5:48 pm #
Yummy, those cupcakes, both, look finger licking good!
My Mom never used to make desert except for jello, that was it, but we didn’t mind.
I do plan to make your spice cupcakes tomorrow, if all goes well, you see now one of my twin sons has MONO!!! He has high fever and is very sick, poor guy, but what I love about it is I get to cuddle with my 13 year old boy
You inspire allot of my cooking Julie, thanks for that, and my family love all the new stuff I made from your recipe books, now they say that I’m a great cook…I blush
Well you can put me in for the draw, I would really like that calendar
PS: Did you know that Pat, your old neighbor and my new found friend, has been ill?
Have a great weekend Julie.
MFO
JulieVR on 23 Jan 2010 at 6:03 pm #
Yes I know about Pat, I’ve been in contact with her. We’re all hoping for the best. Thanks!
jacquie on 23 Jan 2010 at 6:06 pm #
i love the cupcakes on the cover of the calendar – they are so cute…..
Nicki on 23 Jan 2010 at 6:59 pm #
Tonight for dinner – something quick for after work. Some peas, pasta with a tomato sauce (white beans mixed in) and some chicken. Nothing fancy.
I have had this fear of beans for years and the other day I tried them (hence having them in my tomato sauce), and I love them! They are such delicious little things! So healthy too.
P.S. Your cupcakes look delicious.
Shelley on 23 Jan 2010 at 7:42 pm #
I think tomorrow night better be veggies…tonight was a smoked salmon and cream cheese concoction in puffed pastry and stuffed mushrooms…with diet coke of course lol
lorissa on 23 Jan 2010 at 7:56 pm #
Yum! I am going downstairs now to make the cupcakes
Mhiran on 23 Jan 2010 at 8:38 pm #
Had a huge lunch in Calgary today with a girlfriend, so for dinner just had a spinach salad with strawberries, toasted pecans, feta, and a white balsamic/honey mustard dressing… yummy!
Cupcakes look delicious, but I’m especially intrigued by the icing…
Heather on 23 Jan 2010 at 8:41 pm #
I accidentally bought tortilla wraps last weekend, forgetting that I had already just bought them. So now we need to eat them before we go bad! So Monday I bought some avocados, and they’re just ripe today. I ripped up the tortilla rounds and toasted them in the oven to make “chips” (even healthier as they’re whole-grain tortillas), and then made guacamole. Also served them with some of my mom’s home-made salsa.
Amber on 23 Jan 2010 at 8:43 pm #
Um does a Midnight Truffle Blizzard count as supper? I had friends visiting so we had a late lunch of sushi, including a lobster roll that was HUGE but very yummy. Might have some popcorn later if I feel snackish. Need to get back on track with healthy eating.
DJ on 23 Jan 2010 at 9:53 pm #
I am not a spice cake fan, but love cupcakes. Somehow the idea of spice cupcakes is a bit appealing to me…weird cosidering they are just a different form of the same thing. Don’t put me in for the calendar draw – but I will put in a good word for the Hello Cupcake cookbook. My 8 year old daughter wants to make almost every one in the book!
Robyn in Mountain (Ontario that is) on 24 Jan 2010 at 4:46 am #
Hey Julie! Will give those cupcakes a try for my Mom-in-law’s 80th birthday next weekend. For dinner was a very tasty and not too spicy carrot ad lentil curry — yummy and healthy. What’s on my mind? A new exciting job and my sister’s best friend who has just been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma — what else gets you up at 5 am on a Sunday morning?
Please don’t enter my name in the draw. Canada Post would probably charge an arm and a leg to send a calendar to Mountain.
Cheers!
Angela on 24 Jan 2010 at 12:35 pm #
Hi! These cupcakes look amazing, I think I’ll try making them for my mom for her birthday
Please enter me in the contest for the calendar, I’m a college student just getting into baking and having a pretty cupcake calendar would inspire me to bake more. Thanks and have a good day!
malithi on 24 Jan 2010 at 1:02 pm #
cupcakes! My absolute favourite thing to bake!
lets see…dinner: mahi mahi fish with onions and tomatoes, bulgur pilaf with almonds and raisins, and veggies
Casey on 24 Jan 2010 at 10:20 pm #
Those cupcakes look so delicious. Too bad I don’t have an electric mixer with me at school or I could make them for my three anniversary tomorrow.
I have the Hello, Cupcake cookbook which is great but I have never seen the calendar. I am sure it is very adorable and inspiring.
Jen T on 25 Jan 2010 at 7:11 am #
I just learned that you can freeze lemons — that is a brilliant idea for my house as I always buy lemons, but never use them fully. Now I can freeze them and not feel bad for tossing them when they go hard.
As for cupcakes, I am going to try a Red Velvet cupcake recipe, I think from Paula Deen. So a cupcake calendar would go well in my kitchen.
Chantal on 25 Jan 2010 at 12:54 pm #
How fortuitous! I happened to need a non-chocolate cupcake recipe for my Mother In-Law’s birthday this week AND I also happen to need a 2010 calendar! (I’m not sure how I’ve managed without one this long since I am a compulsive calendar-note-scribbler!)
Dinner tonight? Cheese omelette w/ apple and brie for kid 1, w/ tomatoes and salsa for kid 2, w/ ham and brocoli for kid 3, and w/ coriander, carmelized onions and brie for me!
donna on 25 Jan 2010 at 1:42 pm #
I am new to your site and so far I am a huge fan! The man in my life adores spice cake and I always have a hard time finding a perfect one. This one looks great so I will give it a try…also love the idea of the carmelized bananas between layers (as they always ripen faster than they get eaten at our house!) Thanks for the inspirations.
Barb on 25 Jan 2010 at 3:32 pm #
Baked Ham, Buttery Apples and Cabbage, Peroghys. I haven’t seen the calendar before but I have looked at Hello Cupcake in the bookstore.
Nancy on 25 Jan 2010 at 4:48 pm #
Those look fabulous, would love to try them, but speaking of cupcakes, look what I was involved in this weekend! http://thestar.blogs.com/parentcentral/2010/01/never-underestimate-the-power-of-a-group-of-moms-who-can-bake.html
Susana, the fab woman who did it all, is making a cupcake book to sell to raise more funds – any chance of contributing a recipe, or letting me contribute one and credit you??? Love these and can’t wait to see the lemon outcome!
JulieVR on 25 Jan 2010 at 5:08 pm #
WOW, what a fantastic initiative!! Great idea! Of course I’d love to contribute a recipe, or have you do it!
Manon From Ontario on 25 Jan 2010 at 6:40 pm #
Robyn from Mountain Ontario…hey you’re just about an hour away from my house…there’s a nice orchard in your town, do you know it?
Nice to meet you
A Canadian Foodie on 28 Jan 2010 at 9:09 pm #
I was introduced to this book last year by one of my students and we used it in our cake decorating unit. The students were SO motivated. You would not believe what they were able to create… the owls and teddy bears, penguins and Martians were my fav… but this student brought be the spaghetti and meatball cupcake she had made at home to entice me to use the book. It blew me away… and the students really bought it to the project!
non latex gloves on 21 Mar 2010 at 10:17 am #
non latex gloves…
Better yet, make use of latex gloves when ever putting on the Sunless Face Tanning Products. It takes some a while before figuring this out….