The cupcakes are actually double-raspberry – there is a raspberry jam filling hidden under the frosting. I used the same jam, instead of commonly used icing sugar, to sweeten the cream cheese frosting. I strongly dislike the mouthfeel of icing sugar-based fillings.
I bet everyone has their tried-and-true carrot cake/muffins recipe, but I will still share mine since I believe this recipe is pretty awesome. I put a little bit of banana puree in, not too much to turn them into banana muffins, but just enough to make them extra moist and fragrant. I like using fresh pineapple finely chopped in a processor, but I usually do so to utilize some leftover pineapple, other days canned pineapple does the job.
Because the batter is wet, the tops of the muffins don’t dome that high which makes them perfect for piping a generous swirl of cream cheese frosting. You should try my recipe for icing sugar-free honey frosting. Substitute honey (some or all) for maple syrup and add a bit of orange zest to compliment the orange-flavored muffins.
The batter can be also baked as a cake in a deep 9×13 inch pan or divided between three 9 inch round pans and assembled later into a more impressive-looking torte.
I especially recommend these to anemic individuals like me. Blackstrap molasses add not just great flavor, but also iron to the muffins. From the other hand, if you are not a big fan of blackstrap molasses, or if you find its flavor somewhat overwhelming, you can use regular unsulphured molasses instead. Either way, the muffins are nice and quite wholesome.
These little cupcakes are very good on their own – soft, light and moist, with tiny specs of grated chocolate, but simply outstanding when frosted with this super-creamy honey cream cheese frosting. What makes the frosting so special is the absence of icing sugar. Instead, I’m using raw muscovado (light brown sugar can be substituted, if the muscovado is unavailable) and honey to sweeten the frosting. The end result is the clean-tasted and truly luscious frosting, without cornstarchy powdery texture that I dislike in any icing sugar-based fillings.
This recipe was born out of the need to utilize some leftover filling I used to stuff chicken breasts for our dinner. I also conveniently got rid of some Italian salami that was left on an antipasto platter after the same dinner. Maybe this is not a very fascinating or motivating preface, but let me assure you, these little things are loaded with flavor.
I believe the most delicious recipes are created accidentally, without too much hope or expectation of a great result.
I started getting complaints from my kiddo because of the recent cease of baking. Well, there’s still no time for baked sweets, but I thought these muffins, although savory, could rehabilitate me. I served them warm with a green salad and a chicken effortlessly grilled whole on a beer can. Turned out a pretty decent lunch.
