Hero Worship

No, not the show. The dream of being a cupcake hero. I've decided to try my hand at a blog throwdown since I'm starting to get a handle on this whole thing.
or at least faking my way through it
The secret hero cupcake ingredient is cloves. When I smell cloves I immediately think of orange, chocolate and... root beer.

yeah, you read correct

Short story long- my dad loved to experiment in the kitchen. We were always being subjected to his "Concoctions" as he called them. And besides racking my mother's nerves, none of us kids will ever be able to eat a tuna casserole again. Unfortunately, I also cannot leave recipes well enough alone and I'm pretty sure my dear 'ol dad is to blame.

and therapist concurs- mom is off the hook for this one

Well when the holidays came, my mom would take care of most of the meal and all anyone cared about was the mashed potatoes really. really. But my dad always insisted on making a ham. And he was the only one who even really liked ham. But he felt that a holiday just wasn't a holiday without ham. Besides the fact that we obviously aren't Jewish- I will now confirm our true ethnicity. Red blooded middle America white trash. Proof? My father's idea of a fancy ham was bedazzled with cloves and his own secret ham glaze concoction which consisted of orange juice, a ridiculous amount of brown sugar, and...wait for it....wait for it....

uh, huh...root beer.

What can I say- the man has scarred me for life. So, in honor of my own cooking hero I present my cupcake hero submission for Root Beer Clove cupcakes with Spiced Orange Cream Frosting.

I actually worked off of my red velvet base and used a frosting that I test drove/blogged on a week back.

Root Beer Clove Cupcakes with Spiced Orange Cream Frosting
For the cupcakes:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
4 T Naturally Processed Cocoa
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
1 1/2 cups Turbinado (raw) sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 t distilled white vinegar
1 t Mexican vanilla
2 t root beer extract
2 t cloves, ground

Cream sugar and butter in mixer. Add eggs one at a time. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Alternate adding flour mixture with adding buttermilk. Add vinegar, and then vanilla. Finally add root beer extract and cloves. Let mixture continue mixing after scraping sides of bowl well for an additional 2-3 minutes to fully incorporate the spice.
Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Makes 2 dozen.

For the glaze:

1 15 oz. can mandarin oranges in syrup

1/2 cup water

1 t orange extract

3/4 cup Turbinado (raw) sugar, processed (I processed mine down to get it superfine in food processor)

Open can and pour syrup into a medium skillet, combine with the water and 1/2 cup of the sugar and bring to a boil. Add the orange slices and cook over moderate heat, turning them occasionally, until the liquid is reduced to a thin syrup and the orange slices are translucent, about 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to moderately low and simmer until the syrup is thick and the slices are tender but still intact, turning occasionally, about 10 minutes. Transfer the orange slices to a rack to cool and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Whisk orange extract into remaining liquid/ syrup in skillet and remove from heat. Let cool. Stab cupcakes to open them up for glaze with thick toothpick (I have a tool for this actually that is thin but about a 1/2 inch wide which makes a perfect sliced hole that you don't really notice afterwards while eating the cupcake). Drizzle approx. 1 teaspoon of the reduced liquid over cupcakes.

For the frosting:
1 cup chilled whipping cream
8 oz marscarpone
1 t cloves, ground
1 teaspoon Mexican vanilla
3oz bar orange spiced dark chocolate, melted

(if you can't find this substitute regular dark chocolate and 1 t orange extract)
2 to 3 cups confectioner's sugar (depending upon how thick you prefer frosting)

Whip up whipping cream in mixer until soft peaks begin to form. Fold in marscarpone, cloves and vanilla. Then while mixing over low speed, slowly add melted chocolate by drizzling it in. Finally add confectioner's sugar one cup at a time, being careful not to overwhip frosting. Frost cupcakes after they have been glazed.

I decorated with the candied mandarin slices and candied ginger. I also had another bar of the spiced orange dark chocolate that I melted down and shaped to top cupcakes with. I may have gotten a little crazy with the chocolate but I was having fun. ;-) I even had some leftover Halloween cupcake liners that went nicely with the theme.

Coming Clean

While my dad would probably find this abomination of his holiday tradition too haughty-taughty for his tastes, I thought they were definitely a great holiday cupcake. Would be perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas especially. I didn't want to shy away from the hero ingredient for this one and the cloves really make a strong presence known but it comes through as a nice spiced root beer flavor. I think the frosting is light and creamy enough that the cupcake balances it well. Many thanks to Quirky Cupcake and The Cupcake Project for hosting!!!

Now to convince NBC that this merits a guest appearance and a chance to meet Mohinder!
ehrrrr, to exchange Indian recipes of course...