Bobby Flay's Gingerbread Cupcakes ~ With a twist!

As soon as I realized that you could substitute silken tofu for eggs in cake type recipes, I started compiling recipes that I wanted to experiment with. This recipe from the Food Network by one of my favorite chefs, Bobby Flay, was one that I thought looked and sounded pretty amazing. The full title of the recipe is..."Gingerbread Cupcakes with Caramelized Mango Buttercream"! I didn't do the mango buttercream, unfortunately. I didn't have any mango and I'm still trying to come up with good substitutions for things like egg whites, etc. So, to make the cupcakes look beautiful, I just used some store bought icing and sprinkled a few pieces of candied ginger on top.

Even without the mango buttercream, this is still a delicious recipe for a holiday party or luncheon.

Ingredients ~ Cupcakes:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 Tb. ground ginger

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground cloves (*I didn't use)

1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted (I used 1/4 cup Earth Balance margarine)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup silken Tofu, blended with a little water until very smooth

6 Tb. black strap molasses

3/4 cup water

Ingredients ~ Ginger Syrup:

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 (2-inch) piece ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped (I used a longish piece of candied ginger, then used the infused pieces to decorate the top of the cupcakes).

Instructions:

Start the ginger syrup first. Mix water, sugar, and ginger pieces in a small pan and bring to boil. Turn off and allow the syrup to rest for about 30 minutes, to infuse the ginger flavor. Remove the ginger pieces and set aside for decoration if you are using candied ginger. If not, discard raw ginger.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake papers in muffin tin and liberally spray the cups and top of the pan with Pam.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon and cloves into a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together melted margarine, brown sugar, tofu, and molasses. Add some of the water to the mixture and stir, then some of the flour and stir. Continue alternating with the water and flour until everything is added and smooth.

Fill each paper liner with 1/3 cup batter or until it comes about 1/4 inch below the top of the liner. Place into preheated oven and bake just until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 15-18 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush the tops liberally with the ginger syrup.

Allow to cool, then frost with your favorite icing or don't frost them at all! If you enjoy ginger, then you'll love these cupcakes. They'd go well with a cup of hot apple cider. :)