Chocolate Spice Cupcakes - Martha Stewarts's Cupcake Club

I love cupcakes! Truth be known, I love all sweets but cupcakes are one of my favorites. When I first purchased the Martha Stewart Cupcake cookbook, I spent hours thumbing through it as I do all of my new cookbooks. This book contains so many unique and delicious cupcakes recipes. I've been participating in the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club for three years and have hosted twice. This month, I am excited to host again and share with you Chocolate Spice Cupcakes.

This recipe is easy to put together, not too many ingredients and nothing overly complicated. These would be fun to make with kids, you could teach them about the spices. When Tim and I were in Grenada in February, we visited a spice plantation and I brought home some nutmeg. I've never used fresh nutmeg before, it's so different than what you buy in the grocery store.

Be sure to butter and flour the pans well. The batter is so moist, it sticks to the pan. After mixing the flour into the batter, I read the recipe again a couple of times. The batter was VERY runny. I was just sure I'd measured something wrong. For once, I hadn't. The measurements I'd used were all correct, the batter is just very thin.

My complaint about many of the recipes in this cookbook, they aren't as moist as I would like. If you watch Cupcake Wars, you know those judges are all over the bakers when they present a dry cupcake. These Chocolate Spice Cupcakes are very moist. I just wish the flavor matched the texture! The molasses overpowers the spices and becomes the predominate flavor. Of course, the chocolate ganache is heavenly as always. I'd like to bake these again, increasing the spices and reducing the molasses.



You can find the links to the other MSC bakers here!

Chocolate Spice Cupcakes

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350º

In a medium bowl, whisk together:

1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

In a heat-proof bowl, stir together:

1 tsp baking soda

2/3 cup boiling water

In an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream until pale and fluffy:

5 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

Beat in:

1 egg, at room temperature

Add, and beat until combined:

2/3 cup unsulfured molasses

baking soda mixture

Reduce speed to low and add:

flour mixture

Beat until well combined (batter will look lumpy). Divide batter among 12 paper-lined tins and bake 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Transfer pan to wire rack to cool for 15 minutes, then turn cupcakes out and let cool completely.

To finish, peel papers off cupcakes and invert on wire rack set over a baking sheet or some paper towels. Spoon chocolate glaze over tops and let it run down the sides. Top with chopped candied ginger.

Chocolate Ganache Glaze

makes about 1 1/4 cups

Place in a medium heat-proof bowl:

6 oz good quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

In a small saucepan, bring just to a simmer:

2/3 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp light corn syrup

Pour cream mixture over chocolate. Let stand, without stirring, until chocolate begins to melt.

Using a spatula, gently stir chocolate and cream together until smooth and shiny. If any chocolate solids remain, strain chocolate through a mesh sieve and discard the pieces.