I hate to admit this, but I haven't been in the mood for holiday baking this year. It's been such a crazy couple weeks, with all the meetings and working on weekends and snow days, that I haven't had much time to bake up my favorite cookies and treats. I managed to make these gingerbread cupcakes, a Martha Stewart Cupcake Club pick for December, in between my Christmas baking. But I mixed them together in a hurry, and I think it affected the quality.The cupcakes turned out tough and dense, perhaps due to overbaking. The mix of spices was a delicious surprise, but I couldn't get over how brick-hard these cupcakes turned out. I absolutely adored the white fluffy frosting, which was super easy to make with just three ingredients -- powdered sugar, butter and vanilla. I couldn't stop myself from "taste-testing" way too much frosting.
I don't own gingerbread shaped cookie cutters, so I decided to skip baking the cookies to accompany the cupcakes. Instead, I topped each cupcake with crystallized ginger. Probably not the best choice, however. I couldn't taste the ginger with all the heavy white frosting.
So far, I've made three recipes from the Martha Stewart cupcakes book. None of them have turned out as good as I had hoped. For some reason, my cupcakes seem more like breakfast muffins with (unnecessary) frosting on the top. I'm curious what others think about these cupcakes and how the other recipes are turning out. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Or maybe I'm just tired. I probably shouldn't blog right before my bedtime :)
I thought , for a moment, that I was reading my own blog! For me, it's been crazy with the holidays and baking and toddler & infant running about, blah blah blha. And i used candied ginger as well! And when you read my blog (if you have time), you'll see that i feel the same...alot of these should be classed as muffins with unnecessary frosting. but hey, they taste good and look pretty still. :) Should we just call them Cuppins?
ReplyDeleteThe denseness and toughness have nothing to do with you. I had the same thing!
ReplyDeleteYour cupcakes are cute.
I know what you mean about some of the cupcakes seeming more like muffins than cupcakes. It was definitely true for the Gingerbread cupcakes.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas!
I agree with you. I have not been wild about the recipes in this book. Although I did make the Boston cream pie ones last year when the book came out and those were really good. It seems like they are cupcake imitations of other things, and I would rather just have the things they are based on!
ReplyDeletethey did seem a bit muffin like to me as well, but they weren't heavily dense. i figured mine were muffin-y because my butter was a bit warmer than room temp. apparently its hot in my kitchen :)
ReplyDeleteMy husband says he thought they were supposed to be tough and dense...then again, what does he know?? These will definitely not be something I bake again!
ReplyDeleteI didn't actually taste mine but my mom tried them and said they were good. It seems quite a few people had the problems with dense cupcakes though. Sorry you weren't a fan - they look great!
ReplyDeleteI love the crystalized ginger, what a great idea. Mine were dense and tough as well. It seems several of us experienced this. Wonder why?
ReplyDeleteMine turned out dense as well but overall the taste was pretty good. I love your idea of using ginger on top of the cupcakes. I wonder if it would work with a lighter frosting.
ReplyDeleteIt was definitely not you. I had the same experience with Martha's recipe. Hard and dense? What the heck, right?
ReplyDeleteI hated this recipe. Will not make this again.
Thanks so much for baking along with the group! You are too cool.
Mine were OK, I did not have the dense prob..u think its because I did not use the molasses? What does unsulfured molasses do for a cake anyway? If anyone knows let me know.
ReplyDeleteLove the ginger on top.