gingerbread cupcakes

Yesterday was my baby shower, and I had a few friends over. Instead of playing embarrassing games, we baked cupcakes. However, the mothers there did tell stories about their pregnancies, frightening at least one person into swearing she didn't want children (and we didn't even get into the really unpleasant parts!) I made mini gingerbread cupcakes with lemon glaze, and promised to share the recipe, since they turned out so well. Hopefully this makes up for the emotional scarring of my friend :)



Gingerbread Cupcakes

Makes 4 dozen mini cupcakes, 1 dozen regular size cupcakes, or a 9" square cake.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Mix together well in one bowl.

1 cup hot water
3/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup honey

In a second bowl, add hot water to molasses and honey, and stir until they are dissolved.

1/2 cup butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup white sugar

Cream butter in a third large bowl. Add sugar and mix well. Add egg and mix until smooth.

Add half of dry ingredients to butter mixture, and mix well, then add half of liquid ingredients and mix until smooth. Repeat with rest of dry and wet ingredients.

Prepare pans with paper liners, or grease and flour cake pan. Pour batter into pans. Bake at 350 F: 10-12 minutes for mini cupcakes, 15 minutes for regular cupcakes, or 1 hour for cake. Place on cooling rack until cool.

Lemon Glaze

1 1/2 cups icing sugar
6-8 tsp lemon juice

In a small bowl, stir lemon juice into icing sugar one tsp at a time until you have a thick but spreadable glaze (you may not need all the lemon juice). Spread over top of cool cupcakes - glaze will smooth out after spreading, and be sure to add any decorations right away as the glaze surface will dry after a few minutes.