Week 8: Vanilla Pear Chai Cupcakes with Ginger Buttercream Frosting

The Ball jar was a favor from a very lovely Vintage wedding reception we went to. It included an old time paper straw with handmade monogrammed labels. Very cute!

Look at all those spices in that Chai tea. The tea and lovely container are from Teavana. I think even if you don't like tea, you would enjoy visiting a Teavana store. Very interesting combinations and they always have samples for you to try.

Naked cupcakes.

Fully frosted cupcakes.

"Head Shot" of the finished cupcake. Yum!

I chose this recipe because this recipe is mentioned in the book that is the inspiration for this blog series "How to Eat a Cupcake." None of the recipes are in the book so I combined a few recipes to make these as close to what is described in the book. I am not sure how the author includes the organic pears into this recipe so I bought a can of  pears in the organic section of the grocery store and drained and blended them in the food processor to substitute for the apple sauce mentioned in the recipe. Honestly, I can't taste the pear, although pear is a pretty mild flavor anyway. This recipe is more muffin than cupcake which I thought might be the case when I was making them; there is a lot of liquid. The frosting is hurt your teeth sweet, but I love the consistency and it really is a good combination with the spicy cupcake. I would make these again just to smell them baking. All the spices and Chai tea milk made the house smell like heaven. The recipe is below.

I will also mention that I completely made these from scratch. This is for the benefit if the judgy pants reader that was a little rough on me for not actually making cupcakes last week because I was, let's see, trying to be a good hostess, mother, employee and all-around good person. Hopefully, this will make up for it. I can take it though and am very grateful for all types of readers of this blog.

Vanilla Pear Chai Cupcakes

1 1/2 c cake flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
3 eggs
1/4 apple sauce OR pear sauce
1 cup milk
4 Chai tea bags

Vanilla Ginger Butter cream Frosting

1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup butter
2 tsp. vanilla
dash salt
2 tsp. ground ginger
4-5 c powdered sugar
2-3 tbsp. milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves, set aside.

In small saucepan, warm milk until it simmers. Remove from heat and add tea bags. Steep for 10 minutes. Remove tea bags and allow to cool to room temperature.

In large bowl, or with standing mixer, cream butter with sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, until combined. Scrape bowl and add apple or pear sauce until incorporated.

Sprinkle 1/3 of flour mixture over batter and mix just until combined. Add 1/2 of Chai milk on low just until combined. Scrape bowl then add another 1/3 of flour mixture. Add last 1/2 of milk, mix. Add final flour mixture just until combined. Fill cupcake liners 1/2 full and bake for 14-16 minutes.

For frosting, cream butter and shortening , then add vanilla, salt and ginger. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time on medium speed. Add milk 1 tbsp. at a time on high until completely blended.