#20) Autumn-Spiced Cupcakes with Ginger-Infused Cream Cheese Frosting

I have been daydreaming about this recipe for a while now. About 3 weeks ago the bf and I went to Bulk Barn and I loaded up on cloves, allspice, nutmeg... all the spices that remind me of Fall. But, other than my chai tea experiment, I haven't done anything with them. That all changed today :)

The bf recently had a bday, but because I am away for school, we weren't together for it. He flies into town tomorrow so I wanted to have a belated birthday cake-type surprise for him. Well, not so much a surprise becasue I can't keep a secret to save my life, but he will appreciate these little sweet treats no less.

All I done was take a basic vanilla cupcake recipe and added some cloves and allspice. For the frosting I searched high and low for a pipable cream cheese frositng, and thought I had found one here, but the end product was less than pipable and I was quite dissappointed. Nonetheless, here is my bealted birthday cupcake collection for my baby!

Cupcakes

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp allspice

Steps:

- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tray with 12 cupcake papers.

- In a medium bowl lightly beat eggs. Add butter, oil, and sugar and beat until combined.

- Add milk, flour, baking powder, cloves, and allspice. Stir to combine. Beat with mixer for about 2 minutes.

- Divide batter between cupcake papers. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese

5 tbsp butter

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp freshly grated ginger

2 1/2 cups icing sugar

pumpkin spice (for sprinkling)

Steps:

- Bring cream cheese and butter to room temperature.

- In a medium bowl beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and ginger until blended.

- Add sugar one third at a time and beat until smooth.

*Do not overbeat!