One sad day, about 10 years ago, I found out that I had become allergic to fresh peaches. It truly was one of the saddest days of my life. My reaction was nothing too serious but about 2 minutes after I took a bite of a peach, my lips swelled and my tongue, throat and ears became very itchy. It was a good hour or so beforeI got back to normal. (I get this way with fresh figs too. I know, poor me.) So come every Spring/Summer, I face a momentous struggle. Whenever I see a fruit stand displaying mounds of sweet smelling, fresh, juicy, ripe peaches, it takes almost everything in me to keep myself from just grabbing one and devouring it right then and there; allergic reaction or not. Luckily, there is a silver lining in this unfortunate situation: as long as any fruits I am allergic to are cooked or processed, I am fine eating as much as I want.
So, how did I get inspired to bake ginger peach cupcakes? The darnest thing really. I was grocery shopping a couple of weeks ago and as soon as I entered the produce isle, I caught a whiff of an enticingly sweet and fruity aroma. So naturally, I followed my nose and it led me all the way to a giant display of yellow and white peaches. My new mission as of that moment: make peach cupcakes. Ultimately, I came up with a ginger & peach cupcake recipe for which there are two reasons; 1. I adore ginger. And 2. while I was coming up with a peach cake recipe, a can of Ginger Peach Tea by The Republic of Tea was staring at me from across the table. The extra umph to take it over the top: a peach cream cheese filling and peach buttercream frosting. Beautiful. GJW.
Ginger Peach Cupcake
Ingredients:
-2 2/3 cup flour
-1/2 cup butter (unsalted and at room temp)
-1/2 cup of veg. oil
-2 1/2 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp baking soda-1/2 tsp salt
-1 2/3 cup sugar
-3 eggs
-1 tablespoon ground ginger
-1 cup buttermilk
-1 tsp vanilla
-1/4 tsp nutmeg
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger root
-opt: candied ginger for garnish
*preheat oven to 350F, line baking pans
Directions:
1. Sift the flour, salt, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powerder and baking soda in bowl and set aside.
2. Cream butter, oil and sugar until lighter in color and fluffly on med-high in a stand mixer.
3. Add eggs, beating well after each one. Scrape down sides w/ a spatula. Add vanilla and grated ginger.
4. Add flour mixture alternating with buttermilk with mixer on low. After all the flour and buttermilk is added, raise speed to med-high and beat until mixture is just combined, scraping down the sides. Do not over mix!
5. Scoop batter into prepared cupcake pans and bake about 18 min to 20 min. Check for doneness at 18 min. Over baking will dry out the cupcakes.
6. Cool completely. Scoop out center with the smaller end of a melon baller to make room for filling.
Peach Cream Cheese Filling:
-1 8 oz pkg of cream cheese at room temp
-2 ripe peaches pureed
-1/2 cup powdered sugar
-1/4 cup of milk (any kind higher that 1% milk fat)
1. Combine all ingredients and mix well.
2. Pipe into prepped cupcakes. (I use a squeeze bottle for this part)
Peach Buttercream Frosting
-4 egg whites
-1 tsp cream of tartar
-1 1/4 cup sugar
-1/4 cup + 1 tbsp of water
-3 sticks of unsalted butter
-1 tsp of natural peach extract
*opt: a little dab of peach food coloring (if you dont have peach, just mix a little orange and a tiny dab of red)
Directions
1. In a saucepan fitted with a candy thermometer, combine sugar and water and bring to boil. Have a heat proof measure nearby.
2. While sugar is heating, in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk, combine egg whites and cream of tartar and whisk until frothy.
3. As soon as sugar mixture gets to 248 degrees F, pour into heat proof measure.
4. With mixer on med, slowly pour sugar mixture aiming for side of bowl. Once you establish a steady stream, raise the speed to med-high and continue to add the rest of the sugar mixture.
5. Once all of it is added raise speed to high and mix until the meringue cools to between 75- 70 degrees F.
6. Once it is cooled down, add butter, a few pats at a time with the mixer on med-high. If it starts to deflate and look curdled, just raise the speed back up and continue to whisk. Once all the butter is added, add the extract (& food coloring if using) and mix some more scraping down the sides of bowl.
7. Pipe over filled cupcakes.
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