FOODIE FRIDAY: SNICKERDOODLE MINI CAKE
The beauty of cooking and baking is that occasionally, you get lucky, and create something divine purely by accident.
I was trying out a snickerdoodle muffin recipe that I stumbled across on Pinterest, and realized that I was missing several key ingredients.
At this point, I was already emotionally invested in eating a snickerdoodle muffin, so I substituted a few things and crossed my fingers.
I was then feeling inspired (okay, lazy) and decided to use the electric mixer, instead of hand mixing the batter, a standard muffin making procedure.
If you’ve spent any time baking at all, you will know that when you beat a mixture quite vigorously as I did, the batter will become very soft.
So soft, that there was no way I could have rolled balls of it into the sugar mixture (as you would, a traditional snickerdoodle recipe).
Instead, I happily doled out the sugar mixture generously over the top of the batter in its individual muffin liners.
What emerged from the oven was a delicious, fluffy and light baked treat – too light to be considered a muffin, so I declared it a ‘new’ thing – the Snickerdoodle Mini Cake.
Why yes, I did pat myself on the back (and fell to my knees in gratitude that it did not fail).
SNICKERDOODLE MINI CAKE
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice (combination of nutmeg, ginger, coriander, dill, cinnamon, cloves)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted in the microwave (20 seconds at a time, until completely melted)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup castor sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Line a muffin pan (I use silicone liners) and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and mixed spice. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together melted butter and sugar until pale in color and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla extract, beat to combine. Add the flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Don’t overbeat. Lastly, add the buttermilk, and beat until just combined.
- In a medium bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon for topping.
- Fill the muffin liners to 2/3 full. Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar over the tops evenly.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.