Advent, Advent, a candle is lit. …
Do you know the rhyme? It’s a typical German rhyme for the beginning of the Advent season. For me, this means the beginning of the best time of the year. Well, I can’t take pleasure in this freezing cold, but all these different scents arouse a pre-Christmassy feeling. In order to warm you and those grinches among us up, I’ve got these sweet choco-cinnamon cupcakes with fruity Christmas frosting for you.
What kind of scents do you associate with the Advent? Is it the warm vapour of mulled wine that wafts towards you on a Christmas fair? Or, maybe, it’s the indescribable fragrance of fresh fir branches? Or do you associate it with this seet and sour smell of roast apples? With this infinite range of Christmassy scents, it’s almost impossible to make a decision.
After thinking about it for a longer time, the winners are orange and cloves. A few people stick those cloves into the oranges. But you can turn those two ingredients into a tasty cream cheese frosting which, by the way, supplies you with an extra portion of vitamin C during that cold season. And combining it with a chocolatey cupcakes, you get a dose of happiness hormones on top.
You don’t believe me? Well, then it’s about time that you grab this recipe for choco-cinnamon cupcakes with fruity Christmas frosting and try it for yourself:
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 85 minutes |
| Servings |
Cupcakes
|
- 100 g all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
- 140 g sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 40 g Butter at room temperature
- 120 ml milk
- 1 egg
- drops vanilla flavouring
- 40 g (star-shaped) cinnamon biscuits (about 7 pieces)
- 1 1/2 oranges
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 200 g Butter at room temperature
- 200 g powdered sugar
- 200 g cream cheese
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
For the Frosting
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|
- First combine the (more or less) dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cocoa powder and butter). Than mix the liquid ingredients ( egg, milk and vanilla flavouring).
- Pour half ot the fluid into the flour mixture and beat it until well combined. Then pour the rest of the fluid into it and beat until creamy.
- Chop the (star-shaped) cinnamon biscuits into teeny weeny pieces and add them to the mixture. Stirr the dough so that the pieces are spread evenly.
- Heat the oven to 338F (170°C) and line the tray with cupcake wrappers. Fill those wrappers with the dough until two-thirds full. Bake them for about 20 to 25 minutes.
- For the frosting, mix the powdered sugar (its better to sift it beforehand) together with the soft butter until the powdered sugar is completely incorporated. Add the cream cheese and mix it again carefully.
- Finally, add the juice of half of the oranges, orange zests and the ground cloves and mix it until well combined.
- Fill the frosting into a piping bag with a plain tip and pipe small heaps onto the cupcakes.
- You can cut the reaming orange into thin slices and bake them for about 30 minutes in a pre-heated oven (212F | 100°C) .Afterwards, you have to flip the slices and dry them for another 30 minutes. If they aren't as dry as you want them to be, just repeat this process for both sides. You can place the dried orange slices on top of the frosting. Add a pinch of cinnamon for extra flavour.
I am not sure what’s on your mind now. But I will brew a tea, snatch me one of those cupcakes and snuggle down into a fluffy blanket.
With this in mind,
a (belated) first Advent.
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