gingerbread Cupcakes
with Lemon icing
Gingerbread cupcakes with lemon icing that are simple to make but difficult to resist.
Ingredients
(Makes 7)
60g Stork Original Baking Spread
50g light soft brown sugar
3 tablespoons of Lyle’s Golden Syrup (105g)
1 tablespoon of Lyle’s Black Treacle (35g)
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
60ml milk
1 large egg, beaten
2 balls of Opies stem ginger in syrup, drained and very finely chopped
115g of Self-Raising flour
Icing.
1 tablespoon of lemon juice (15ml)
100g of icing sugar
1/2 a ball of stem ginger, drained and finely chopped for decoration
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
2. Line a large muffin tin with 7 large, paper muffin cases.
3. Gently melt the baking spread, brown sugar, golden syrup, treacle and ground ginger in a bowl. This can be done in the microwave on a low heat setting (800w) of intervals of 1 minute until the sugar and fat has melted. It should only take a couple of minutes and stir after each minute.
4. Once the mixture has melted, stir until it is well combined and then allow the mixture to cool slightly.
5. Beat the egg and then stir the egg, milk and very finely chopped stem ginger ( see notes) into the syrup mixture.
6. Using a sieve, carefully sift in the flour and mix with a balloon whisk, until a batter has been created and no flour is visible.
7. Carefully, spoon the batter mixture into each cupcake case until it is just under 3/4 full. Don’t be tempted to overfill the cases and just make 6 as the mix will just spread across the tin and you won’t achieve the slightly domed top. The stem ginger will fall to the to the bottom of the batter so make sure you scoop some of the ginger into each case, each time you spoon it out.
8. Bake in the oven for 18-20 minutes.
9. Cool the cupcakes in the baking tray for 5 minutes then remove to completely cool on a wire cooling rack.
To decorate.
Once completely cooled, make a thick icing by combining the icing sugar and lemon juice. It needs to be a thick consistency but add a few more drops of lemon juice if needed.
Spoon onto the centre of each cake and allow it to drizzle slightly down the domed top.
Top with a few very finely chopped pieces of stem ginger for an extra burst of flavour.
Notes
If you don’t want to use a microwave, melt very gently in a saucepan but do not allow it to boil. Stir continuously whilst over the heat. Make sure the melted mixture is not too hot before adding the egg. If it is, it will scramble the egg!
I use a designated garlic press to chop my stem ginger. I put pieces into the press and force it through to achieve really small pieces. You can of course use a knife but the pieces need to be really small.
This is a batter, rather than a creamed version for a cupcake and the batter will appear quite runny. Once combined, you may wish to pour it into a jug and then pour it into the cases. I use a small ladle or make the mixture in a large jug.