Ginger cupcakes with cinnamon icing

I wanted to make some gingerbread for a party that I was going to over Christmas but was a little short on time so I settled for some ginger flavoured cupcakes instead. They turned out beautifully light and fluffy and the cinnamon in the icing added a little kick to the flavour of the cakes. I've made this recipe twice so far and both times the cakes were a big hit. I clothed them in red cupcake cases and they looked very festive! Will definitely do this again next year.

Ginger cupcakes

• 150g butter, slightly soft
• 150g sugar
• 3 eggs, preferably at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 150g self raising flour
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon all spice
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).
2. Line a muffin tin with cases.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs. Mix each one in before adding the next. For extra fluffiness, separate the whites at this point, beat until they form peaks and then fold in at the very end.
5. Gently mix in the flour and spices until smooth. The best way to do this is to gently fold the flour into the mixture with a spatular, trying not to lose any of the air.
6. Gently mix in the milk.
7. Spoon mixture in muffin tin. Be careful not to drip mixture outside of the cases or it will burn. The closer you can get it to the middle of the case, the better.
8. Cook in oven for about 15-20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean when poked into a couple of the largest cakes.
9. Take out of the oven and leave in muffin tray for about five minutes. Then remove from muffin tray and leave until completely cool.

Cinnamon buttercream icing

• 250g icing sugar
• 60g butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoon water
• 5 crystalized ginger

1. Put the icing sugar, butter, vanilla and cinnamon into a bowl and mix until it forms a fine dust or a kind of dough (this will depend on exactly how much butter and icing sugar you've added).
2. Add water, one spoonful at a time, until the icing is a nice runny consistency that can be spooned onto the cakes easily but isn't so runny it will drip off a spoon. Add more icing sugar if you make it too runny.
3. Put about a tablespoon of icing onto each of the cakes. Make sure the cakes are completely cool or the icing will melt.
4. Cut up the crystalized ginget and sprinkle a few pieces on top of each of the cakes.

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