Baked Sunday Mornings: Maple Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

This week's recipe for Baked Sunday Mornings is "Maple Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting." One of the simpler recipes from Baked Explorations, you make the batter by creaming together butter and shortening, adding in maple syrup (I used grade B), adding in a egg and three egg yolks, and then alternately adding dry ingredients (four, baking powder, salt) and milk. At the end, you fold in a cup of toasted, chopped walnuts. There is a lot of liquid in this recipe. It calls for an entire pint of maple syrup and a one and one-quarter cup of milk, along with the eggs. The batter was very thin, so much so that I kept checking the recipe to make sure that I hadn't measured something incorrectly. The recipe says it yields two dozen cupcakes, but I got 26.

The cupcakes come out golden brown. You top them with a delicious, smooth frosting made from cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and maple syrup. There are only two tablespoons of maple syrup in the frosting, and the maple flavor was hard to detect.

I'm not sure I can give a fair critique of these cupcakes. The cupcake itself is very moist and tender, and I thought that the walnuts added some terrific taste and texture (I was also pleasantly surprised that the walnuts remained evenly distributed through the cupcakes and didn't just sink to the bottom, given how thin the batter was). The frosting is fabulous.

The thing is, I didn't love the maple flavor of the cupcake. I enjoy a little maple syrup on pancakes and waffles as much as the next person, but I like my maple syrup in moderation; I have never been a fan of those leaf-shaped maple candies that are made from boiled down maple syrup. These cupcakes are pretty darn maple-y. The upside to that is that tasters who really like maple loved the cupcakes. As for me and Tom, not so much. But I can definitely appreciate that this is a good maple cupcake.

Recipe: "Maple Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting," from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, recipe available here at Baked Sunday Mornings.

Comments

Susan said…
I made a bundt cake and used pecans, but we really enjoyed this one! I agree - it was one of the easier recipes so far.

Your cupcakes look perfect!
Chelly said…
I kept checking the recipe too!! I thought there was a lot of liquid!! Yours look beautiful!
Kris' Kitchen said…
Yup...I've never been one to go for the maple nut ice cream that my mom purchased regularly, etc...but Hubby goes for maple flavored items and he LOVES these cupcakes as do other tasters. Yours are beautiful. I also got 26.
Elaine said…
I halved the recipe, but only put 3/4 cup of maple syrup rather than a full cup and the maple taste was very subtle. When I was mixing the butter and shortening I wasn't sure if I was making this right either - it is such a different recipe, but so good. Your cupcakes are beautiful and I love the liners that you used.
Sheri said…
They're gorgeous! I made mine a while ago, but I remember these weren't our most favorite from the book. Good, though.