Butterbeer Cupcakes

I can't quite remember how these came about.  I think I was looking up what root beer was, and if it was the same as ginger beer.  There was something about the butterbeer served at Universal Studios being made with root beer and that got me interested.  If you could do a coca-cola cake, why couldn't you do one using butterbeer?  I figured I could use the Nigella recipe I discovered after my first attempt at cola cupcakes as a base and go from there.

Hence, more research was required.  What did butterbeer taste like anyway?  Well according to J.K Rowling, butterbeer tastes "a little bit like less-sickly butterscotch", so I knew I'd need to get butterscotch in there somewhere, probably in the topping.  Then, like I said before, people who make their own butterbeer use root beer, or cream soda as a base.  But those aren't so easy to find over here so I thought I'd find a recipe that used ginger beer instead, since it is a type of root beer.  Browsing around the internet yielded a lot of results, but I settled on the one I found on The Roaming Kitchen since it incorporated ginger beer, cream and butterscotch.  It certainly looked the best and used things I thought my tasters would like.

So I took that recipe and made the "beer" part to add to the Nigella recipe in place of Cola.  I chose to leave out the rum though, mainly because I'm not a drinker of alcohol and therefore don't keep anything like that in my house.  I switched the golden caster sugar to light brown sugar, since butterscotch cake usually uses that, and left out the cocoa powder in favour of some extra ground ginger.  Putting some of the butterscotch sauce into the cake batter just before baking was a last minute decision but seemed to pay off. 

I was rather pleased with the final result.  However, I discovered that the butterscotch sauce I put on top kinda vanished into the cream overnight in the fridge, and I had to make some more so it actually showed up in the photos and would be there for the people eating them.  So really, you want to add that bit just before you serve.

The cake was really moist, and tastes like ginger beer, which was good.  You even get the ginger beer after taste.  The cream is lovely, especially with the nutmeg and the butterscotch sauce just brings it together with a nice sweet edge.  The fiancé really liked them.

Recipe - adapted from The Roaming Kitchen and How to be a Domestic Goddess
Makes about 12


Butterscotch Sauce:
Makes about 180ml/6fl.oz

• 55g/2oz butter
• 85g/3oz dark brown sugar
• 125ml/4.5fl.oz double cream
• 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract

1. Put the butter in a saucepan and melt over a gentle heat.
2. Add the sugar, cream and salt and whisk together.
3. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes, whisking the whole time.
4. Bring off the heat when the butterscotch has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.
5. Add vanilla extract and stir in.

Butterbeer:

• 1/2 tbsp butter
• 3/4 tbsp light brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 175ml/6fl.oz ginger beer

1. Put the butter in a saucepan and melt over a medium heat.
2. Add the sugar, nutmeg, ginger and vanilla and mix together.
3. When the mixture is starts bubbling, add in the ginger beer, lower the heat and stir.
4. Remove from heat after the ginger beer has heated through (about 2 minutes).

 
Cupcakes:

• 125ml/4.5fl.oz milk
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 250g/9oz light brown sugar
• 200g/7oz plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 125g/4.5oz butter
• 175ml/6fl.oz butterbeer
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Butterscotch sauce
• 250ml/9fl.oz double cream
• Ground nutmeg for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin cases. 
2. Put the lemon juice and milk in a jug and leave for 10 minutes.
3. Mix the sugar, flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt together in a large bowl.
4. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat with the butterbeer and ground ginger.
5. Add butterbeer mixture to the dry ingredients and mix in. 
6. Add the egg and vanilla extract to the lemon milk and beat together.
7. Add to the other ingredients, mixing until smooth.
8. Divide the mixture amongst the cases, filling them about 2/3 of the way up.
9. Add a small spoonful of butterscotch to the centre of each case of mixture.
10. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until the butterscotch is bubbling and the rest of the cake is risen and springy to the touch.
11. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
12. Whip the cream until it holds its shape in stiff peaks.  
13. Put the cream into a piping bag fitted with a closed star nozzle and pipe a spiral on top of each cake, starting at the centre and moving outwards so you get something that looks like a rose.
14. Sprinkle each cake with a little nutmeg.
15. Just before serving, put the remaining butterscotch sauce into a piping bag fitted with a small, round nozzle and pipe a zigzag pattern across the top of each cake. (If the butterscotch has firmed up a bit too much, place back over a low heat and whisk until it becomes runnier again).