Maple Cupcake With Maple Buttercream

These turned out amazingly well. When I asked BG where it ranked in comparison to the other two that everyone loves, she said it tied with the others. This is very high praise, since she compares almost every cake I make to either the pumpkin or the chocolate cream cheese.

The recipe calls for pure maple syrup in both the icing and the cupcake. Preferably grade B. And a lot of it on top of that. When I saw the jug of the grade A at Costco, I decided to just go with it. I don’t know enough about grades and maple syrup to tell you how that impacted the final product. I just know that we all really liked it. It is a subtle but noticeable flavor in both the cupcake and the icing. Sort of like a normal vanilla cupcake with a little hint of interesting.

Maple Cupcakes

2 3/4 C  All-Purpose Flour
1 T  Baking Powder
1 tsp.  Salt
1/2 C  Unsalted Butter
2 C  Pure Maple Syrup (pref. Grade B)
3  Eggs, Room Temperature
1 C  Milk
1 tsp.  Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together flower, baking powder, and salt. In separate bowl, cream butter until smooth. Add maple syrup and beat until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Add flour mix and beat until combined. Add milk and vanilla and mix until combined. Fill baking cups 3/4 full. Bake 20 minutes for regular size, 10 to 13 for mini.

Makes 24 regular cupcakes or 66 mini

*source – Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes cook book

It is kind of rare that I pull a recipe wholesale from anything. I almost always make some modifications to it along the way to make it mine. Since this was the first time making these and there wasn’t anything obvious that I wanted or needed to chance, I’m giving credit where it is due. I did not use the icing recipe for this that is noted in this cookbook because I love my buttercream recipe and already know what to do to modify it for different flavors so that is what I used.

I took about a cup and a half of the maple syrup, cooked it for a few minutes to thicken it up to a heavier consistency (similar to a thick caramel syrup) and allowed that to cool. I mixed up a standard batch of my Marshmallow Buttercream and once the syrup was cooled, I mixed that in. If this makes the icing too thin, add another cup or two of powdered sugar.

I have a feeling these cupcakes are going to get added to my stable of cakes I bake. We’ll see how well they do at the bake sale.