Cupcake Tuesday-Molasses Cupcakes

These cupcakes may seem strikingly similar to my post about Oatmeal Cream Pie Cupcakes, but they are not the same, just slightly similar.

Certain things happen when I decide to not go to grocery store to buy more ingredients.  Things get interesting when I make myself make-do with what I have.  I've recently moved and decided to do just this.  I had all the basics just nothing fancy.  I did have molasses, and I did have brown sugar so I went for it.

I took my base recipe and replaced some of the sugar with molasses and adding a touch more flour.  Easy as that.

Here we go.

Molasses Cupcakes

2 sticks butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup molasses

vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

salt

1 cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350.

Start with some room temperature butter and give it a nice beating with a mixer.  Add the sugar, molasses and vanilla and mix until fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until well incorporated.

In a small bowl add the flour and the baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Start by adding 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  The add 1/2 cup of sour cream.  Add another third of the dry ingredients followed by the last half off the sour cream.  Finally, add in the last third of the dry ingredients  and mix until just incorporated.

Scrape down your sides to make sure everything is in there and give it all one last mix.

Using a 2 oz. ice cream scoop or spoons, scoop the cupcakes into two lined pans.

Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

adapted from Joy The Baker

2 8 oz blocks room temperature cream cheese

1 stick butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

3-4 cups powdered sugar

In a medium bowl add the cream cheese and the butter and mix until slightly fluffy.  Add the brown sugar in and continue to mix until smooth.

Once the mixture has smoothed out slowly add in powdered sugar until the frosting has a stiff consistency, you want the frosting to be able to stand up.

Scoop the frosting into a piping bag (mine was fitted with a large, round tip).

Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and do not hesitate to enjoy!

Sunday School-Sugar Free Roasted Strawberry Buttermilk Cake

Wow, that is one long title for a cake, but it's going to be delicious.  And by sugar-free I do not mean that this is packed full of fake sweetener, nor do I mean that this is particularly healthy, there is still some butter and buttermilk in it (you could make it lighter by using non-fat buttermilk.)

So instead of refined sugar I used agave.  This created a much less-sweet cake, but that's ok because the strawberries really shine through which makes it amazing!

And let's talk about the roasted strawberries.  Roasting them caramelizes their sugars and makes them so sweet and delicious, adding salt just makes them taste more like strawberries, it's amazing!

And look at how delicious those strawberries make the top of this cake look!



Are you hungry yet?

Ok good, let's get going on this!

Roasted Strawberries

adapted from Joy the Baker

1 carton strawberries cut into halves or quarters (you can use more if you would like)

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons real maple syrup

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat the oven to 400.

While you are slicing your strawberries, put a pat of butter on a edged cookie sheet (edges are super important!  If you don't have a cookie sheet with edges you can use a pyrex) and put in the oven until melted.

Swirl the melted butter around the pan and pour the sliced strawberries on top of it.

Drizzle with maple syrup and olive oil and sprinkle some salt all over those strawberries.



Now mix everything together, it's looking yummy!

Throw that pan in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until the strawberries are nice and tender and their juices have formed a syrup.

Buttermilk Cake

adapted from Joy the Baker

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/3 cup pure agave

salt

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/4 cup butter, melted

vanilla

Roasted strawberries

So while your strawberries are roasting you can go ahead and get this together, it's pretty simple and all you need is a bowl and a whisk!

Preheat oven to 400.

In a large bowl mix together all your liquid ingredients (agave, eggs, buttermilk, butter, vanilla).  Give them a quick whisk and make sure that everything is incorporated.

Then add in the flour and the baking powder.  Whisk until smooth (don't over whisk, it's ok if the batter is mostly smooth with a few chunks).

Butter and flour a pie pan, this will prevent the cake from sticking.

Scoop the cake in, all of it may not fit, you can make it into a cupcake or two if you feel like it.  Smooth out the top a little bit.



This is where this cake gets taken up a notch, it's about to get exciting.  Take your strawberries and spread them evenly over the cake, adding some of the syrup as well.



Throw that puppy in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until nice and golden brown and firm.

Allow to cool and slice and serve, everyone will be so impressed with your skills (especially since the name makes it sound so fancy!).

Also, for the record, this cake was so easy that I was able to make it with this much counter space.



I had just moved and that's about all I could clear off at the time, so no excuses, just go and bake and love it!

Love,

Keely

Weekly Wrap Up

Wow!  This week has been crazy!  Moving is quite the process (the best part is that it's such a good reason to get rid of SO much stuff!).

I have now found myself in a wonderfully wonderful apartment with an equally wonderful roommate and although it hasn't even been a full week since our first night here, it feels like it's been forever, it's just so lovely and we have so quickly made it into a home.

There were nights with friends, and a lot of nights with the roomie stay up late chatting, planning trips, organizing furniture and often ignoring that we have furniture and either standing or using the floor.  How charming, it's such an adventure!

Also!  With all this Instagram sharing I've never mentioned before that you can follow me on Instagram too!  My handle is @bowsandbutter, look forward to see you there.



Before I was actually moved in I had to christen to space with a cake (one thing done from my 22 before 23 list!) This is all the space I had.



Here is the finished product!  Thank you Joy the Baker this cake was fabulous! (Recipe to come).



And the classic slice shot, yum!



Here is our in progress living room, a fabulous blend of IKEA and vintage.   Love!  Those pictures resting on the couch are now hanging on the wall.



We replaced an ugly fixture with a Chinese lantern (FYI that is a jar of cupcake liners sitting on the dining room table!)



Here is the small tree that sacrificed it's life for my job.



Molasses cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese frosting!  Recipe sometime in the near future :)



This is my house!  The light in the morning is so gorgeous and peaceful, wish I was more of a morning person so I could just sit there and drink my coffee, it's so perfect!



Me and the roomie planning a trip, we're hoping to go to Nashville!  Instead of using chairs and couches we sat on the floor, and ate strawberries out of the carton, it's the right way to do things.



This caught my eye, the street light lit up the trees and it was such an amazing view, the picture doesn't do it justice.



This is in the lobby at my office and I've been meaning to take a picture of it for forever cause it's so cool!   I want one in my house!

There it is folks.  I'm sure there will be more pictures of my new place as we get even more settled, but that was my week, relatively peaceful all things considered.

Love,

Keely