Spice Cake Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Fall is here! Although, in Massachusetts you wouldn't know it with temperatures reaching in to the sixties over the past few days, mid-November has never felt so good.

Although the thermometer is putting my mind in Labor-Day mode, the calendar is telling me it's time to buckle down and embrace some fall flavors.

Spice cake embodies the season's flavors at their best.  Hearty, sensual, comforting ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar come together and put your taste buds in a daze. The cinnamon cream cheese frosting will intensify your daze to the point of a utopian, autumnal coma.


Spice Cake Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

For the cakes:
1/2 C. butter
1 1/2 C. brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 C. flour
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (8 oz) sour cream

For the frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 C. butter
3 3/4 C. confectionery sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cinnamon



Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using an electric  mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl. Add in eggs one at a time & mix well. Add vanilla. Mix all dry ingredients (flour, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda & salt) in a separate bowl.  Slowly add half the dry ingredients to the batter. Mix well. Add in sour cream. Mix well. Add in the rest of the dry mix to the batter. Mix well.

Line two cupcake trays (standard size) with paper liners). Fill each cup only about 1/2 way. This batter grows a lot when baking! Bake for 16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Beat cream cheese & butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Add confectionery sugar a 1/2 cup at a time until mixed well. Add vanilla and cinnamon. Beat until frosting is fluffy. Frost cakes with a piping bag or offset spatula

For an extra touch - make decorative "leaves" by rolling out soft caramel candies and cutting them out with a small leaf cookie cutter. Use the blade of a knife to add details to the leaves.

Apple Bourdelot en Croute

Nothing gets you in the mood for fall like the fresh, crisp taste of an apple. Whether it be Macintosh, Granny Smith or Golden Delicious, apples emulate all that is fall. They're refreshing, bright, comforting. They match the same soothing colors that are starting to pop up on the trees all around us and when you bite into them it sounds like the crunch of leaves under your favorite pair of boots.

Fall in New England is not a season known for its longevity, but luckily there is no shortage of apple-related recipes to make the warm, fuzzy feeling of the season linger on and on. 

Apple Bourdelot en Croute (which in English translates to Baked Apple in Pastry Crust) is an amazing dessert that allows everyone to have their own piece of fall...and the best part is, you don't have to share! Each apple is cored, stuffed with butter, brown sugar, dried cranberries and maple syrup resulting in the apple pie equivalent of a molten lava cake. And then to top it all off, it gets wrapped up in its own individual pie crust and decorated to resemble the very fruit that the dessert celebrates.

I learned how to make this last year in an Adult Ed Decadent Desserts class and I was enamored. How delicious. How fancy. How....simple. 

Trying to impress someone this fall? Try this one out.....Oh heck, make it for yourself. It's delicious & you'll thank me later.

The quality of the photos aren't that great. Obviously, I was just eager to eat this thing.

Recipe after the break....