Hot Buttered Rum Cupcakes

Hot buttered rum. I can honestly say I have never had the stuff. However, the idea of the drink heightened my senses (for some reason the sound of it reminds me of Butter Beer from Harry Potter. Maybe I can make a cupcake from that too!) and for the past few months anytime someone starts talking about a drink or dessert, all that comes to mind is how can I turn this into a cupcake? Kind of a pain if you think about it, spending hours searching through recipes, then finding more great cupcakes ideas, and before you know it, its 2 A.M. Anyways, these cupcakes took some work to complete. More like an entire day. Hello trial and error day! See my problem is once I start something (when it comes to baking that is) I don't stop until its complete. This has caused a lot of midnight baking in the past, and I almost thought today would turn into one of those nights.

For some reason this sounded perfect for my first cupcake recipe of 2012. When I first started making these cupcakes, they kept coming out dry, with burned bottoms and domed tops. Even with modifications, they kept getting worse and worse. Time for a new recipe! Thanks to google.com, I found a hot  buttered rum cupcakes recipe that would be perfect after a few modifications. Since they are BUTTERED rum cupcakes, I decided to add in some butterscotch schnapps since there was barely any butter in the recipe (I mean come on, I feel like you can't go wrong with butterscotch schnapps!) and when the cupcakes were baking in the oven, I can honestly say they smelled just like the name. Hot buttered rum. I sure hope that the drink will taste just like these cupcakes.

This recipe made 11 cupcakes.

Hot Buttered Rum Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk

• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

• 2 1/2 tablespoons rum

• 1 1/2 teaspoons butterscotch schnapps

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1 tablespoon molasses

• 1/4 cup butter, melted

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 3/4 cup brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, mix the milk, apple cider vinegar, rum, and butterscotch schnapps, set aside to   slightly let the mixture curdle.

3. In a large bowl (or stand mixer) combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. 

4. In a small bowl, mix together the molasses, butter, vanilla, and brown sugar until completely combined.

5. With an electric mixer (or stand mixer) mix the butter mixture in with the dry ingredients then mix in the milk mixture. The cupcake batter is on the wet side, I was worried at first about this thinking it would affect the way the cupcakes baked. However, they baked perfectly! 

6. Evenly dispense the batter among the cupcake tin (the easiest way to do this is with a large cookie scoop, one scoop was enough batter for one cupcake) and bake the cupcakes for about 20 minutes (or until completely cooked through, I use the good ole' toothpick trick, making sure it comes out clean every time) 

7. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for about 15 minutes before taking them out of the pan and let them fully cool on a cookie sheet before frosting. 

I would have to say that these cupcakes are some of the easiest cupcakes I've ever made. Putting the batter together was almost as fast as using a box mix! I think from start to finish, they only took me about 10 minutes tops to mix, and put in the cupcake liners. Easy peasey lemon squeezy! These cupcakes would go great with some cream cheese frosting, tomorrow I will post the cream cheese frosting recipe and pictures of the cupcakes fully put together. 

Every cupcake needs frosting, I don't care what people say. A frostingless cupcake? Nonsense! The frosting is what makes the cupcake the way it is. In this case, I chose cream cheese frosting. I mean come on. Who doesn't LOVE cream cheese frosting? I feel like cream cheese frosting could probably cause world peace. Especially this recipe.

Best Cream Cheese Frosting (and easy!)

• 1 stick (1/2 cup butter)
• 1/2 block (4 oz) cream cheese
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons vanilla

With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese. When the mixture looks smooth and creamy, mix in the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time (just so it doesn't fly around everywhere). Finally, mix in the vanilla. The reason I said 1-2 tablespoons is because it depends on flavor and how stiff the frosting is at the time it is made. Sometimes the frosting may need more powdered sugar, sometimes less, it all just depends on the day.

I hope you enjoy these cupcakes as much as I did!