Welcome to Snickerdoodle Week, Day 3! Today I continue this week of snickerdoodle inspired recipes with Snickerdoodle Cupcakes! These consist of everything that makes you love a classic snickerdoodle cookie: cinnamon, sugar, vanilla, and light caramel notes. The moist sponge base, smooth cinnamon and caramel ganache, silky buttercream, and sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar make these a truly delicious cupcake that is perfect for the holiday season!
Components:
- Snickerdoodle Sponge (recipe provided in the next section of this post)
- Caramelized White Chocolate and Cinnamon Ganache (details provided in the “Prepare the Filling” section of this post)
- Cinn-fully Delicious Snickerdoodle Buttercream (you can find my recipe right here)
- Equal parts ground cinnamon and granulated sugar
- Christmas sprinkles
Prepare the Snickerdoodle Cupcakes Base:
Snickerdoodle Cake
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy20
minutes30
minutesIngredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup water
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (°C).
- Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Whisk the mixture to make sure the dry ingredients are well combined.
- Add room temperature eggs, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract into a separate bowl and mix using either a stand mixer or a hand mixer. Mix on a medium-high speed until the ingredients lighten in color, which will take approximately 3-4 minutes.
- Add the mayonnaise and mix on a medium speed until well combined, approximately 1-2 minutes.
- Add one-third of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined (do NOT overmix!). While mixing, pour one-third of the water into the bowl. Repeat until all dry ingredients, wet ingredients, and water are just combined. Add the cake batter to your desired cake or cupcake pans.
- Bake 6” round cakes for approximately 25-30 minutes, regular cupcakes for approximately 16-18 minutes, or mini cupcakes for approximately 12-14 minutes. Baking times will vary depending on what you are making, but you will know when your sponge is done when a cake tester (such as a toothpick) inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove pans from the oven and let the sponge or cupcakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Next, remove the sponge or cupcakes from the pans and let them completely cool on a wire rack or baking sheet.
Prepare the Filling:
Caramelize the White Chocolate:
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, this process does take some time to complete, but the flavor is significantly better than regular white chocolate. For this cupcake filling, I decided to try the oven method. While this method allowed me to work on other things while waiting to stir the white chocolate every 10 minutes, it took quite a long time and I actually got better caramelization on the white chocolate using the microwave method. If you have the time to stir the white chocolate every 15-20 seconds, I recommend utilizing the microwave.
The two methods for caramelizing white chocolate use either an oven or a microwave. Here is a how I used the oven method for this ganache:
- Oven Method: For this method, you spread your white chocolate (2 cups) out onto a sheet pan and bake it on a very low heat, 250°F (120°C). Every 10 minutes, you remove the sheet pan and thoroughly mix all the white chocolate around to both ensure that it does not burn and that it cooks evenly. Once you are satisfied with the color of the caramelized white chocolate, proceed to the next step.
Make the Ganache:
Add the 1 cup of heavy whipping cream to a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for approximately 30 seconds – 1 minute. Add the caramelized white chocolate and use either a whisk or the spatula to mix the cream into the caramelized white chocolate. Add ¼ teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, and thoroughly mix them into the ganache. Cover the ganache with plastic wrap, making sure to press the plastic wrap onto the surface of the ganache so that it will not form a skin on the top layer of ganache. Let it cool until it is close to room temperature and then place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Assemble the Cupcakes:
Once the cupcakes are baked and cooled, I cut the centers out with one of my fondant circle cutters that is approximately 1.25” in diameter. Note: If you do not have small fondant or cookie cutters, use a paring knife to cut the center out of the cupcake. Remove the top half of the center and lightly press down the remaining sponge in the center of the cupcake.
Next, add some of the caramelized white chocolate and cinnamon ganache to a piping bag and fill the center of the cupcake until it is completely full of ganache.
Add equal parts of ground cinnamon and granulated sugar to a small bowl and mix the two ingredients together. Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar mixture over the top of the cupcake.
Add some of the Cinn-fully Delicious Snickerdoodle Buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a 1M piping tip. Depending on how much buttercream you would like on top, pipe either a rosette or muli-layer dollop. I personally prefer the rosette style because American style buttercream can be a bit to sweet.
Sprinkle some more of the cinnamon and sugar mixture over the top of the buttercream. For an optional final element, add some Christmas sprinkles, like I did here with the holly leaves and berries sprinkles. These delicious cupcakes are complete and ready to enjoy!
Thank you so much for checking out this post for the third day of Snickerdoodle Week! I hope that you try these delicious cupcakes and please leave a comment below regarding how you enjoyed them!
Come on back tomorrow for day 4 of Snickerdoodle Week that features another yummy Christmas and Snickerdoodle-themed treat!
