Gingerbread Cupcake with Maple Cream Cheese Icing

I love food. Especially dessert. And while it would be impossible to choose a favorite dessert, I'm pretty sure cupcakes would at least be one of my top ten things to bake, and eat. Coming up with different combinations for the cake and icing flavors and testing them out is so much fun! My latest venture is a seasonal cupcake that I came up with...a gingerbread cupcake with maple cream cheese icing.

I got the recipe for both of them on the Martha Stewart website, though I got them separately and it was my brainchild to put them together. (I think the typical pairing for maple-flavored frosting is with carrot cake, so it wasn't a huge stretch.) Baking the cupcakes turned out great...the batter tasted delicious, they baked up well and the whole house smelled like gingerbread. The icing was very easy to make, and while it tasted great and was probably one of the best cream cheese icings I've made, it wasn't very maple-y. I even added extra maple syrup, but this made the icing a little thinner than I would have liked. A friend of mine suggested I add some natural maple extract next time, which I didn't even know existed but, after looking into it, discovered that it indeed did exist, and is commonly used in icings. Here's the recipes, they're not difficult at all, which is unusual for Martha Stewart recipes. I'll definitely make these cupcakes again...and again.

Gingerbread Cupcakes

Ingredients
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1 cup unsulphered molasses
• 2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten

Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 10 jumbo muffin tins with paper baking cups, and set aside. In a small saucepan, bring 1 cup water to a boil. In a bowl, combine boiling water and baking soda; set aside. In a large bowl, sift together flour, ground spices, salt, and baking powder; set aside.
2. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until light. Beat in the brown sugar until fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the molasses, baking-soda mixture, and flour mixture. Beat in the eggs.
3. Fill the cupcake papers three-quarters full, making sure that the batter is divided evenly. Bake cupcakes until a toothpick inserted in the center of them comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cupcakes cool a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.

(The only thing I did not follow was making them in "jumbo" muffin tins. I poured the batter into regular sized cupcake pans, it made 16, and I adjusted the baking time accordingly, 25 minutes instead of 30)

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add maple syrup, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar; continue beating until well combined and smooth.

(Remember, the maple flavor is very subtle. In fact, I couldn't taste it at all, and I doubled the amount of maple syrup. If you're looking for a bolder maple flavor, try the extract, I certainly will next time.)