Spiced Cupcakes
By: Brooke Scutt
Published: Saturday, May 7, 2011 - 7:11am

Ingredients




2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, softened
 cup canola oil
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups milk
8 ounces unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. 2 In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, spices, and salt - set aside. In a larger bowl, beat the butter, oil and sugar until light and fluffy. {This is always kind of messy to me, but today it actually looked pretty right on} Add the eggs and vanilla, blend until fluffy - about one minute. 3 Add about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir it in by hand until it’s combined. Add about half the milk in the same manner, then another third of the flour, the rest of the milk, and the rest of the flour, mixing just until the batter is blended. 4 Divide the batter between paper-lined muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops are springy to the touch. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting, the frosting recipe is below. Makes about 20 cupcakes. 5 Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting: In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract {at this point you can do half vanilla and half another flavor like orange.}