Roopa
I still had some leftover ingredients from the butterbeer cupcakes, so I decided to try yet another version. I used more cream soda in the cupcakes, and some clarified butter as well for a more potent buttery taste. I was lazy to make icing so I just topped them with some whipped cream (that also had clarifed butter). They taste excellent, but I can’t honestly say I taste a huge difference between these and the first version. I think the carbonation made them a little bit fluffier, but I couldn’t really taste the cream soda or the clarified butter.
Oh well. Still delicious.
BROWN SUGAR CUPCAKES (~12 medium sized)
INGREDIENTS
- 7/8 cup flour
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 28 g butter, melted
- 2 tbsp. apple sauce
- 1 tbsp. vanilla
- ½ tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp. clarified butter*
- ½ cup minus 1 tbsp. cream soda
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake tins with liners.
- Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside
- Cream butter, apple sauce, vanilla, vinegar, and clarified butter in stand mixer.
- Add flour mixture to butter mixture in three parts, alternating with cream soda. Start and end with flour mixture. Don’t overmix.
- Fill liners ~2/3 high. Bake for 12 – 18 minutes, depending on liner size.
*Clarified butter, also known as ghee, is sort of a staple in Indian households. For those who don’t know what it is, it’s basically reduced butter. Here is an online tutorial on making it.
For the topping, I whipped together about ¾ cups of heavy cream, ½ tsp. clarified butter, ½ tsp. vanilla, and 2 tbsp. granulated sugar. I’m never terribly exact when making whipped cream, so I just add in however much seems right. You can definitely taste the clarified butter in the whipped cream, although the vanilla kind of overpowers it, so I would halve/remove the vanilla next time.
I filled the cupcakes with the leftover butterscotch ganache from last week. The filling really takes these cupcakes to the next level. I know that I personally am often too lazy to fill cupcakes, but it’s really worth it with these ones. I think that the ganache is also the dominant flavour in these cupcakes, so small changes in the cupcake don’t really get noticed.
