Roopa
I tried experimenting with some different flavour combinations today. I made cinnamon chocolate cupcakes with a flour based icing. The cupcakes themselves were more brownie-like than cake-like, so it’s really about personal preference. Some people LOVED them, but others prefer a crumblier cake. The frosting – found in this book – is much less sweet than most buttercreams, which a lot of people really liked. I definitely have a bit of a sweet tooth, but I think the average person finds a lot of frostings too sweet.
CHOCOLATE CINNAMON CUPCAKES
- 1 cup + 1 tbsp. flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ¾ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ tsp. sea salt
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 7/8 cup water
- ½ tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 tbsp. apple sauce
- 1 tbsp. oil
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350F and line cupcake tin.
- Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, sea salt, and cinnamon in a bowl (or mixer)
- Mix together wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients. Don’t overmix.
- Fill liners 2/3 high. Bake for 10 – 20 minutes, depending on liner size. These look a little different than most cupcakes, and also bake really quickly.
CINNAMON FROSTING
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp. cup flour
- ¾ cup milk
- 2 tbsp. cream
- ¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
DIRECTIONS
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together flour and sugar.
- Add milk and cream and cook over medium heat.
- Stir mixture occasionally, and cook until mixture is boiling and thick (15 – 20 mins)
- Take mixture off heat and transfer to electric mixer bowl. Beat on high until cool.
- Reduce speed and add butter. Once mixed, beat on higher speed until fluffy.
- Add vanilla and cinnamon and continue mixing.
- If the frosting is too soft, refrigerate briefly and re-mix. If the frosting is too hard, heat over a pot of hot water and beat with a spoon.
My first attempt at these cupcakes was my biggest baking disaster in recent memory: I forgot to add sugar. I suggest you don’t try that. It tasted quite impressively bad.
Also, I didn’t find that the cinnamon came through very strongly in either the cupcake or the frosting. I would definitely increase it next time if I wanted to pass them off as cinnamon chocolate cupcakes.
Chateau Gateau 