Friday, January 7, 2011

Gingerbread w/Lemon Buttercream Frosting

These cupcakes were topped with Lemon Buttercream Frosting (recipe below). To make it extra lemony, we added extra lemon extract and a few drops of yellow food coloring to the frosting. Very delicious!! Alternatively, a Lemony Cream Cheese Frosting (found in the book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World) could also be used; however, we didn't test out that option.

Ingredients
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
3 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp salt
½ cup vegetable oil
⅓ cup light molasses
½ cup maple syrup
¼ cup soy milk
2 tbsp soy yogurt
1 ½ tsp finely grated lemon zest
¼ cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 for mini-cupcakes). Line a muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt into a bowl and mix.
3. Whisk the oil, molasses, maple syrup, soy milk, yogurt, and lemon zest in a separate large bowl. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix just until smooth. Fold in the chopped crystallized ginger.
4. Fill cupcake liners two-thirds full. Bake for 19 to 22 minutes, until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.

Lemon Buttercream Frosting
¼ cup shortening
¼ cup margarine, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a small bowl, cream the shortening and margarine until well combined. Add the confectioners’ sugar in roughly ½-cup additions. After each addition of sugar, add a splash of lemon juic and beat well with a handheld mixer. Add vanilla and beat for another 3 to 5 minutes until smooth, creamy, and fluffy. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

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