In case you hadn’t noticed, I am a woman who loves to experiment. The words “oh, just leave it be” rarely cross my lips, and the baking extravaganza that took place in preparation for PT’s birthday party afforded me ample opportunity to flex my experimental muscles.

 

The Burnt Butter & Sugar Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Ginger Chips was probably my most avant-garde cupcake. A very basic, but delicious cupcake recipe becomes the center of attention with bright green frosting embedded with sugary ginger chips.

 

In case it wasn’t readily obvious, this is a decidedly adult cupcake (children may balk at the ginger chips). Not too sweet, kind of tangy, and very sophisticated, despite its somewhat garish colors.

 

A couple notes about this recipe:

 

1. Burning butter takes awhile… start that before you even think of doing the rest, and you’ll be fine.
2. Dear CS will be providing us with a fun cocktail for this cupcake recipe, so stay tuned. 

Click here for a printable version of the recipe

Burnt Butter & Sugar Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting & Ginger Chips, Yields 12

Adapted from Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess

 

Ingredients:

 

For the Cupcakes

 

1 Cup Butter

1 ¼ Cup Cake Flour

5 Tbls. Sugar

½ Cup Brown Sugar

3 Eggs

1 ½ Tsp. Best Quality Vanilla

1 ½ Tsp. Baking Powder

3 Tbls. Whole Milk

 

For the Frosting

 

½ lb. Cream Cheese, at room temperature

½ Cup Butter, at room temperature

½ Tsp. Best Quality Vanilla

¼ Tsp. Best Quality Almond Extract

¾ lb. Confectioner Sugar, sifted

Food Coloring

½ – ¾ Cup Ginger Chips

 

Preparation:

 

Burn your butter by heating it in a small sauce pan over medium heat, stirring constantly for approximately 10 minutes. (You will start to see a color change 7-8 minutes after the butter has melted.)

 

 

Remove from the heat and strain to remove the solid sediment. Set aside in a cool dry place until it has regained a solid, but still soft, form. This should take an 1-1 ½ hours. (You can place it in the refrigerator to speed up the process, but keep an eye on it to ensure that it doesn’t get cold or hard again.)

 

 

When the butter has cooled, but is still soft, you’re ready to make the rest of the cupcakes.

 

Preheat the oven to 400°. Line a muffin tin with cupcake cups.

 

Put the burnt butter, cake flour, sugars, eggs, vanilla, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor and blitz until the batter is a smooth consistency. Slowly add the milk through the feed tube, pulsing all the while.

 

Divide the batter among the cupcake cups, filling close to the top. Bake for 17-20 minutes.

 

While the cupcakes are baking, prepare your frosting.

 

Put cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and almond extract in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat at medium speed until creamy. Add the confectioner sugar ½ cup at a time and beat until smooth.

 

 

Once the frosting has achieved a smooth consistency, add your food coloring according to the package instructions. I used the option for coloring a 16oz. container of white icing green, which called for approximately 20 drops of green and 4 drops of yellow. The great thing about food coloring is that you can test with fewer drops and just continue adding until your desired color is achieved.

 

 

Once the cupcakes are done baking, remove from the oven, and test for doneness with a clean toothpick. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then dump onto a wire rack and let cool for 30 minutes.

 

Once the cupcakes are cool, frost them and add the ginger chips to the top. I chose to put mine all over the cake, but feel free to experiment with your own design (a flower, sun, letters or names, etc.)

 

Enjoy!