Gingerbread Cupcakes

I am obsessed with ginger!! I loved making gingerbread houses at school when I was very young, and although I haven't taken the initiative to create a home full of candy canes and marshmallows lately, I have not abandoned my love for ginger during the holidays. Instead, I've been making these cupcakes that are spicy and deep in flavor with a light and fluffy frosting, then topping them with little round gingerbread cookies and decorating them with faces with mustaches and curly hair. I made them for the first time this year at Green's downtown location last week. I had a million custom orders to fill, and the country music playing was driving me crazy, so I filled a piping bag with leftover ginger frosting and let all the servers decorate the gingerbread faces. They had a great time, and helped save me time, and so we were all happy. I guess this can be fun for you to distract rambunctious kids with too. Anyways, here's the recipes!!! These are a tiny bit time consuming ( probably an hour and half with baking times included) but the flavor and presentation is TOTALLY worth it!! I recommend listening to that She and Him Christmas album while you make these.

Makes 2 dozen
[cake]
3 1/2 cups all purpose Flour
2 cups Imperial granulated Sugar
2 tsp. Baking Soda
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Salt
1 1/2 TBSP. ground Ginger
1/2 TBSP. Cinnamon
1/8 tsp. Cloves
1 cup Canola oil
2 cups Soymylk
1/3 cup Molasses
1/8 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 cup Vanilla Extract
1/4 cup finely chopped and peeled fresh Ginger root


Preheat oven to 350°.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients and whisk well to combine. Peel and chop fresh ginger and set aside. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine all wet ingredients and whisk well to combine. Pour mixed wet ingredients into mixed dry ingredients and use an electric hand mixer to thoroughly whisk batter. Mix for atleast one minute, before stopping to scrape all edges and corners where little pouches of dry mix may be hiding. Mix again for an another minute, then pour chopped ginger into batter. Use a spatula to spread out and fold little chunks of ginger into your batter. Line cupcake pans with baking cups and use an ice cream scoop to fill cupcake lines 3/4 full. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Set on a cooling rack while you make frosting!!!


Frosting:

3 1/2 cups Imperial Powdered Sugar
3/4 cups vegan Margarine
3/4 cups non-hydrogenated Shortening
2 1/2 TBSP Vanilla extract
1 1/2 TBSP ground Ginger
1/2 TBSP Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Molasses


In a stand mixer, cream together your margarine and shortening. Stop to scrape the edges and make sure there are no clumps. This may take beating at high speed for atleast 3 minutes. Then, while beating at your slowest speed, add 1/2 of your vanilla, let mix for 30 seconds. Then, add the other half of your vanilla, and beat another 30 seconds, before adding your ginger and cinnamon slowly. Beat for 30 seconds, then add your molasses and let beat for one minute, before adding 1/4 of your powdered sugar. Beat at a slow to moderate speed to prevent sugar splashing out of the mixing bowl. Once combined, beat on high for 30 seconds. Repeat this process, slowly adding your powdered sugar 1/4 at a time. Once all ingredients have been thoroughly incorporated, use a frosting bag and tip, or spatula to frost cupcakes. Let frosted cupcakes sit in a refrigerator for atleast 15 minutes, to allow frosting to set. I prefer a fat star tip for this cupcake, then I garnish with a little gingerbread cookie! You could also garnish with candied ginger or golden hue sprinkles.