Chai Spiced Cupcakes with Snickerdoodle Frosting

I am sorry that there are two cupcake posts in one week. The first deal is that there are just going to be an inappropriate amount of sweets on my site this month. Sorry. The second deal is that I have a hard time saying no to my daughter who seems to want cupcakes all the time.

When I made this batch, I was heavily inspired by all of the chai cupcake recipes that I have seen recently, plus my children’s love for all things snickerdoodle (umm, cinnamon) flavored. I simply added chai spices to a basic vanilla cupcake recipe (joy of baking)- it is amazing how a tsp of cardamom can transform my usual spice mixture!

I then tried to think of what frosting would suit these flavors best. I wanted to dip into the spices that I had just used to flavor the cake, and cinnamon just seemed to be the right one. I discovered (so did Pia) that buttercream tasted like a snickerdoodle- and so snickerdoodle buttercream was born!

These are decorated for Christmas with some adorable nutcracker decorations. I am taking Pia to the Nutcracker for her first time today, and I was trying to get her into the mood with these cute toppers. Anyways- these are pretty good, and definitely seasonal. Enjoy!

Chai Spiced Cupcakes with Snickerdoodle Frosting, makes 1 dozen
½ cup butter, soft
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cardamom
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger
¼ tsp cloves
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ cup whole milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the butter and the sugar and beat until fluffy.

Add the eggs and the vanilla and completely combine.

In a large bowl combine the flour and baking powder with the spices.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar and combine until partially combined.

Add the milk and beat until the batter is thick and smooth.

Evenly divide the batter among the liners.

Bake the cupcakes at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let cool.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting.

Snickerdoodle Frosting
½ cup butter
1 ¾ cup powdered sugar
1 Tbs cinnamon
2Tbs milk

Combine the ingredients in a small bowl and using a hand held mixer, whip and beat until fluffy. Set aside.

When the frosting is completely cool frost the cupcakes with a small off set spatula or in a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.

I then sprinkled them with white sprinkles and stuck nutcracker themed garnishes on each one.