It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but for good reason. I finally moved out of my tiny kitchen in Boston and back into my parents huge house. It doesn’t sound that glamorous, I know, but you could put me on the streets in Colorado and I’d be happy. But don’t worry, I imagine in a couple of months I’ll be moving into another small kitchen, hopefully at least big enough for my new gift:
A special thanks to my aunts and uncles Carol, Barbie, Richard, and Victor, and two great cousins Kevin and Isa for my amazing Kitchen Aid. I’ve used it nearly every day since I opened it, excluding one very sad apple pie day when I realized the pie recipe had no need for my mixer.
So basically I had the most amazing Christmas this year. Not only am I back home, Bachelor’s Degree and Kitchen Aid in tow, my parents bought me a new car to celebrate graduation! Well, new to me anyways. For anyone who doesn’t know, I just spent five years trapped in the early 70s with my VW Beetle. It morphed into a 97 Jetta, and I couldn’t be happier.
Through all the job hunting that comes with college graduation, I’ve still been making time to bake, just not much time to talk about it. I’m kicking off the New Year with a new buttermilk spice cupcake recipe that I hope you guys love!
Let me preface this by saying that I am under the impression that cinnamon is what even God puts on his toast, and for the last two weeks I’ve put in everything in hopes of something spectacular. This is my favorite so far.
It’s fantastic with coffee. Well, I only had like a tiny sip of coffee with it, but I do like to pretend I’m adult enough to drink java every day. The reality is that I think most coffee is pretty terrible. So, the way I eat these is with an espresso-shot-sized coffee and a normal-to-large sized cake.
Feel free to be the adult in this blogger-to-reader relationship and have more coffee because it has less calories or whatever it is you adults think.
Ingredients
- For the cupcakes:
- ½ cup room temperature butter
- ¾ cup superfine sugar (see the notes below)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- ¾ cup self-rising flour (see notes below)
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- Heaping ½ tsp. cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
- Pinch of ground cloves
- Pinch of allspice
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ cup, plus 1 tbs. buttermilk
- For the marshmallow frosting:
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 egg whites
- 2 tbs. water
- A pinch of cream of tartar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
- For the cupcakes:
- Preheat your oven to 375. Beat together butter and sugar until fluffy, about a minute.
- Add the eggs and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, mix together both flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and salt.
- Add about half of the dry mixture to the egg mixture. Then, mix in the buttermilk.
- Add the rest of the dry ingredients and scoop evenly into a lined cupcake pan.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, and the tops are lightly browned.
- Cool completely before frosting.
- For the frosting:
- Whisk together sugar, egg whites, water, and cream of tartar in a glass bowl until foamy, about three minutes with an electric mixer.
- Set the bowl over a small pot of gently simmering water and whisk for about four minutes, until sugar is dissolved and mixture is slightly warm to the touch.
- Remove from heat. With an electric mixer, beat until mixture forms stiff peaks, about 15 minutes.
- Add the vanilla. Frosting will be slightly runny. If you feel you need it to be a little stiffer, beat in a few tablespoons of powdered sugar.
Notes:
- Superfine sugar: No need to look around your grocery store for this. If they have it, it’s definitely not worth the money. Superfine sugar is finely granulated sugar, just not as a fine as powdered sugar. You can make it by taking regular white sugar, putting it in your blender, and pulsing until it becomes visible finer.
- Self-rising flour: You can make this yourself, but if you have a Walmart at your disposal, you can buy it there for almost as cheap as regular flour. The grocery stores sell it in name brands that cost way too much, so if you can’t run over to Walmart, this is how it’s made: Mix together one cup regular flour, one teaspoon baking powder, and a pinch of salt. If I’m making it, I usually just make a few cups at once and throw it in a container. The reason I use self-rising flour is, simply put, it means one less thing to measure.
Hello and welcome! My name is Nicole, and Dough-eyed is a food blog for people who want to bake for their family and friends in high-altitude areas. Think of me as a friendly voice there with you in the kitchen, here to give you confidence when you’re baking, and to help you with the struggles of baking at high-altitude. Come back every week for new recipes, tips, and advice on high-altitude baking!
Leave a Reply