Lemon and Ginger Cupcakes

I've made some lemon and ginger cupcakes as I wanted to practice some autumnal flavours. I'm planning something for the Halloween season and well, I'm not sure when I'm going to do this but I wanted to make some cookies and cakes and, I guess look at them since I'm still on a diet. Halloween flavours are the best: pumpkin (which I don't actually like the taste of but it smells great), ginger, cinammon and more. It's all spices and smokiness and everything smells great yet again. Therefore, I got some lemon zest, some ginger seasoning and I made some cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and topped it with coconut.

This recipe makes about 10-12 cupcakes depending on the size of your cases. All of the ingredients containing milk can be swapped out for alternatives and eggs can be swapped out for a shot of vinegar and baking soda mixed together and added to the mixture.

Lemon and Ginger Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and Coconut

Part 1: Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 110g of butter
• 2x large eggs
• 110g brown caster sugar
• 110g self-raising flour
• 5x tsp of ginger powder
• 1x zested lemon

How To:

1. Preheat your oven to 180/C
2. Line a cupcake tray with 10-12 cupcake cases
3. Whisk your butter until it is white and then, add in the sugar and whisk the sugar and butter together. They should be completely white and fluffy
4. Add in two eggs, beaten and whisk again, making sure the mixture stays fluffy
5. Add in the ginger and lemon and whisk once more for about 2-3 minutes
6. Sift in the self-raising flour and whisk for another 3-4 minutes
7. Use a tablespoon to spoon your mixture into the cases
8. Put your cupcake tray into the oven for 15-18 minutes until browned
9. Poke some pin-sized holes in the hot cupcakes and then place them in the fridge to cool
10. Take them out after half an hour so they don't solidify

Part 2: Frosting

Ingredients:

• 100g butter
• 100g icing sugar
• 200g cream cheese

How To:

1. Whisk your butter until it is white and fluffy - this should take 5 minutes
2. Add the sugar and whisk again until light and fluffy (another 5 minutes)
3. Add the cream cheese and whisk again (final 5 minutes)

Part 3: Put it together

You will need:

• Desiccated coconut or coconut shavings
• Your cupcakes and frosting

How To:

1. Use the back of a teaspoon to slather your frosting on to the cupcake in a layer that is about 3mm thick
2. Pour your coconut into a bowl so that you can roll your cupcakes in it instead of using a spoon (it's easier this way)
3. Place them in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to harden
4. Enjoy...

Conclusion

Again, I love baking in this season because there are so many great flavours to use. I've made some butternut squash soup from scratch that I'm going to share the recipe to soon as well. I've got a few cookie recipes I want to share too but I don't know exactly when that is going to be. Hopefully, I can get myself some more spices and make something really quite special. Oh, and look out for Christmas because I start to make some really cool stuff around that time. There Christmas flavours also include berries, currants and of course, the mince pies that I make seem to impress everyone.

I'm glad that there are people out there enjoying my recipes and baking and I hope this continues for some time (and I don't just give up for a year and a half like last time). But there's one flavour I haven't used so much yet that I'd like to in some cake...one of my favourites... coffee.