And while they’re not the prettiest things ever, they sure taste great! I never make cupcakes because something always goes wrong. They sink in the middle, or they get too puffy and then run over the sides of the pan…I’m never going to be a cupcake queen. Ever.
But I found this recipe the other day, and it worked perfectly! The cakes had good texture, a slight spiciness from cinnamon and other good things, and they weren’t like cupcake-shaped hockey pucks. And even though they have whole wheat pastry flour, they don’t taste like wheat bread. Honest! And the kids loved them. The recipe is originally found here. I added vanilla and also switched out the individual spices for a Cake Spice blend.
The icing…oh, the icing. I was contacted by Diana at POM Wonderful a couple of weeks ago. She offered me some samples of their juice to try. Um, yeah, thanks! Love that stuff! So in thinking about different recipes to try with it, my husband thought of cupcakes.
I had originally thought about chocolate icing, but looked around and found a recipe for Pomegranate Butter Cream. I didn’t have any POM molasses, so I brought some of the regular juice to a boil, then simmered it until it was thick and syrupy—about 30 minutes or so. Then just follow the icing part of that recipe.
Whole Wheat Cupcakes
Makes 12
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp Cake Spice
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
1 tsp vanilla
Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a muffin tin or line with paper muffin tin liners.
Whisk the flours, baking powder, and spices in a small bowl.
Cream the butter with the sugar for about 4 minutes.
Add the eggs one at a time until blended, and scrape down the sides of the bowl if you need to.
Beat in the flour mixture until just combined, and then add the milk and vanilla.
Spoon the batter into the pan and bake for 15 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack.
To print this recipe, click here!
Check out the Savory Pomegranate Chicken Michelle at Life, Lightly Salted did with some of her POM Wonderful Juice!
