Hello November! So glad you are here! I officially have the next 2 months to bake up a storm. Love, love, love!
Speaking of love… these Gingerbread cupcakes totally converted me to a Gingerbread fan. I’ve been on the molasses train pretty much all year and I have been patiently waiting for the holiday season to bust out some Gingerbread recipes because molasses is kind of awesome. By kind of awesome, I mean it might just be one of my top 5 fav ingredients. Why? Because it gives such a boost of flavor to all baking! These cupcakes highlight the goodness of molasses, with a hint of orange, and a bit of spice. Can you think of a better holiday combination?
PLUS…. remember when we started #betterbaking by calling out all of the nasty ingredients being thrown into dessert recipes all over the inter-world? *Ahem….Cool Whip, Trans fat laden sprinkles* Well, you can add ANOTHER cupcake recipe to the #betterbaking books because this one is simple and to the point. No weird stuff, no convenience products loaded with random crap. Just the simple, real deal… and THAT’S IT! 🙂
Is it just me or do these guys look like they just jumped off the Candy Land board game?
Now, as if you didn’t know this was coming….We need to talk about white chocolate. Yes, the dreaded trans fat talk is coming. I know, it is such a Debbie Downer in all of this cute cupcake fun. But, but, but…. we need to talk about these companies that put dangerous fats in their products knowing full well that they are dangerous! Upon some investigation at the grocery store I came to the conclusion that ALL of the white chocolate morsels/chip contained partially hydrogenated oils (non-organic brands). Hershey’s even called their white chips “Premium” yet they were made with dangerous trans fats. Come on now Hershey’s! We know you can do better then that for us!
Soooo….. I suggest taking a look at your white chocolate ingredients before purchasing a product. If it is organic, AWESOME! Then we know that eliminates most of the cray-cray ingredients we are trying to avoid. I used a Green & Black White Chocolate Bar and it worked great, tasted great, and didn’t contain any added crap. It cost me $2.99, which was only a few cents more then the Ghiradelli bars. If you can’t find an organic bar, look for a bar that doesn’t contain any partially hydrogenated oils, or artificial flavors. Companies like to throw in additional unknown flavorings but nobody likes that weird, fake taste that comes from those flavorings anyway!
And then there was that time when I thought I was getting red cupcake liners, but apparently they were pink. The grocery store must have been convinced they were red too, because they were sitting around all the baking stuff in the middle of the grocery store surrounded by huge Christmas Trees and the green liners. *face palm* But hey, they are super cute AND match my logo, so oh well! 🙂
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White Chocolate Orange Gingerbread Cupcakes
By Published: November 4, 2014
- Yield: 12 Servings
- Prep: 10 mins
- Cook: 18 mins
- Ready In: 28 mins
Hello November! So glad you are here! I officially have the next 2 months to bake up a storm. Love, love, love! Speaking of …
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter or 1 stick
- 3 Tbsp unsulphered blackstrap molasses
- 3/4 cup organic cane sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup milk I used whole milk
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 and 1/2 cup whole wheat white flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 and 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 3-4 freshly ground whole cloves optional
- 1 8 ounce package full fat cream cheese for icing
- 1 stick unsalted butter for icing
- 4 ounces white chocolate for icing
- 1 Tbsp tapioca starch for icing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 12 cupcake tins.
For Cupcakes: melt butter in microwave, allow to slightly cool, and mix with all other wet ingredients. In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients. Sprinkle dry over wet, and stir just to combine. Batter will be thick! Evenly distribute into 12 tins and bake for 17-18 minutes.
- For Icing: Soften cream cheese and butter on countertop for at least 30 minutes. Beat cream cheese until very smooth, scraping down the sides a few times to ensure you have gotten all lumps out. Add softened butter, and continue beating until very smooth. Melt white chocolate on stovetop or in microwave in 30 second intervals. Beat in melted white chocolate. For a sweeter icing, add 2-3 Tbsp pure maple syrup, then beat in tapioca starch to finish. Pipe icing on cooled cupcakes with an 825 ateco tip.
I recently found your blog through 100 Days of Real Food and I’m in LOVE! Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes! I made the fire-roasted sweet potato chili for Halloween and it was a hit!
Thank you so much for your kind words Kimberly! Feedback is always so much appreciated! I love the 100 Days blog as well 🙂
I also found you through 100 days of real food and am loving your blog! Quick question, if I wanted to substitute the orange juice in this receipe what would you suggest? Could I possibly use applesauce instead????
Thanks so much Monica! You can omit the orange juice all together or sub applesauce. The cupcakes aren’t overly orange and get most flavor from spices and molasses so omitting would be fine.