Cupcake duo: ginger spice and chocolate orange, with caramel icing

I wanted to make a birthday cake for a 63 year old friend, but was not sure what flavour would be best. So — why not make two? Most people liked chocolate, while ginger was a “grown-up” flavour. The caramel icing provide a naughty bit of indulgence, appropriate for a celebration. Also, eating a cupcake does not seem quite as greedy as polishing off a whole cake in one sitting.

I choose these particular cakes because they are easily made in two saucepans — less washing up!

Serves 18–24; Prep: 30 mins; Cook 15–20 mins; Gadgets: saucepans, cupcake cases and muffin or cupcake pans

GINGER SPICE CUPCAKES:

65 g butter (in small pieces)

50 g golden syrup

50 g light muscovado or brown sugar

1 tbs ground ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

¼ tsp allspice or ground cloves

150 g self-raising flour

65 ml milk mixed with 1 tsp white vinegar or lemon juice

1 egg

CHOCOLATE ORANGE CUPCAKES:

65 g butter (in small pieces)

50 g 70% chocolate (broken into small pieces)

1–2 tbs dutch cocoa powder

150 g marmalade (or for different flavours, use other type of jam — cherry, or blueberry)

30 g castor sugar (increase to 75 g if you like — but remember that the icing will be sweet)

Pinch of salt

75 g self-raising flour

1 egg

CARAMEL ICING:

110 g brown sugar

50 g butter

2 tbs double cream

110 g icing sugar

Optional decoration: chocolate sprinkles

N.B. This quantity of icing is more than enough for all 18–24 cupcakes. Make half the quantity, if you prefer to make a second icing (a chocolate ganache, for example, to top the ginger spice cakes, while you use the caramel icing for the chocolate cakes).

METHOD:

1) Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake cases, and brush the cases with melted butter.

2) Heat the oven to 180°C.

3) In each saucepan, add 65 g butter, and start to melt this over a low heat.

4) For the chocolate cakes, add the chocolate pieces, cocoa powder, marmalade, salt and sugar to one saucepan, stirring continuously. As soon as chocolate and butter are melted, take the pan off the heat, mix well and leave to cool.

5) To the other saucepan, stir in the golden syrup and sugar until well mixed, and remove the pan from heat as soon as the butter is melted.

6) Meanwhile, mix the spices with the flour for the ginger spice cake.

7) When the mixtures in the saucepans have cooled down, break one egg into each and beat the eggs in well.

8) To the chocolate mixture, mix in 75 g of self-raising flour.

9) To the syrup mixture, mix in the self-raising flour and spice mixture.

10) Fill the cupcake cases to 2/3rds full for large cakes (you should get about 18 cakes) or ½ full for smaller cupcakes (for 24 cakes).

11) Bake about 15–20 mins until a skewer inserted in the middle of a cake comes out clean. Let the cakes cool down on a rack.

12) Make the caramel icing by melting together the sugar, butter and cream in a saucepan over a low heat until bubbling. Cook a minute or two until thickened, then take off the heat and leave to cool for about 5 mins. Then mix in the icing sugar and leave to cool a further 5 mins.

13) Ice the cooled cakes with icing that is just warm enough to be pliable (but not yet hardened). Decorate as you wish (chocolate sprinkles, etc.), then leave the cakes to cool completely. The icing with firm up further.


Do let me know if you try the recipe, do suggest any modifications to improve on it, and do feel free to share the recipes.

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The Enquiring Chook

Written by

Canadian living in Australia interested life, food, travel and nature

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