Gingerbread cupcakes with lemon icing.

More warming spices as I'm still feeling very festive! It turns out that after making my gingerbread cookies last week that a lot of you really really love gingerbread, so to continue with my festive baking I decided on gingerbread cupcakes, with a lemon spice icing and a mini gingerbread cookie for good measure. These were such fun to make, and have made my whole house smell lovely. They look very pretty and are perfect for sharing with friend along with a cup of tea, or a hot chocolate, if you feeling particularly wintery.

Recipe

Prep Time : 1 hour

Serves : Makes about 24 cupcakes

Difficulty : Easy/Moderate

For the cake

200g soft unsalted butter or Stork

150g dark brown Sugar

300g golden syrup

350g self raising flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

3 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon mixed spice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

100ml milk

2 eggs

For the icing

200 g soft unsalted butter or Stork baking block

400g icing sugar

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Grated rind one lemon

Splash of milk if needed

For the gingerbread stars

Use my gingerbread cookies recipe, using half the quantity

Oven at 170*C. 2 cupcake tins lines with cases

1 - In a pan gently melt the butter along with the brown sugar and golden syrup stirring till its all melted.

2 - In a large bowl sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda together along with the spices.

3 - Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir well to combine.

4 - Add the eggs and the milk and stir again.

5 - Fill each cupcake case about 2/3 full allowing enough room for them to rise and bake for approx 12-15 minutes, until they're cooked through

6 - Once out the oven leave to cool completely on a drying rack.

7 - If you're going fancy then make your gingerbread stars using my gingerbread cookie recipe and using a small star cutter - they will only take about 5 minutes in the oven (as they're so small)

link can be found here - www.annaskitchentable.co.uk/post/iced-gingerbread-biscuits

7 - For the icing using an electric mixer if you have one first whip up the butter for about 30 seconds till it starts to lighten and add the lemon juice and the lemon rind.

Then whip in the icing sugar, if it starts to clump together and is too thick then add milk about a teaspoon at a time - trust me on this, if you add more each time you will end up with a runny buttercream.

8 - Using a piping bag, top each cupcake with buttercream, and then stick one star in the top.

9 - If you don't want to, or don't have time to make the gingerbread star a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar, or a grating of chocolate will look just as yummy and inviting!

However you decorate them, they're sure to be enjoyed by everyone :)