Cardamom!

I've had strange ideas for cupcakes in the past- for example, a red wine cupcake that smelled like pizza. But ever since watching Cupcake Wars, I seriously started craving cardamom. There was an episode in which someone (I was jet-lagged after coming back from England, so I was half asleep and barely remember anything that night) used cardamom in the frosting. That sounded really weird... weird enough for me to remember from over a month ago. As always, I asked my boyfriend if I should experiment with cardamom, or play it safe with horchata cupcakes. All he said was, "Yes!"
I decided on making chai cupcakes with a cardamom buttercream to feed my fellow performers in Short Bus Comics backstage during our Thursday night show. (I completely forgot to take photos right when they were done, so I ended up using my phone backstage...)


Chai cupcakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup self-raising flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup chai powder
1/8 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1 stick butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat your oven to 350F and prepare your cupcake trays!
Cream the butter and sugar together, until it becomes smooth and creamy. Whisk in one egg at a time, and then the vanilla. In a seperate bowl, sift together the two flours. Add half to the wetter of the two mixtures, plus half of the milk. Add the rest of the flour and milk, and whisk until smooth. Throw in the chai, cardamom and cinnamon and whisk again.
Pop the cupcake trays (I'm assuming you've already put the batter into the cupcake trays at this point) into the oven for 25-27 minutes. Once they've got a slightly golden color on top, take the cupcakes out of the oven and let them cool for roughly 20 minutes (if you're in a hurry like I usually am and half a tiny fan, bring it into the kitchen and use it to cool the cupcakes in almost half the time).

Cardamom frosting
3 cups powdered sugar
1 stick butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tsp ground cardamom, depending on your tastebuds
just under 1/4 cup milk

Cream together half of the sugar and the butter, and add in the vanilla. Pour in the milk and the rest of the sugar and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Put in the cardamom, 1/2 tsp at a time, until you're satisfied with the flavor. I personally prefer 2 tsp, because the frosting is neither too sweet nor too cardamomy.
Add the frosting to the cupcakes (I feel like I'm almost typing down to you by saying this, but when we order a hot coffee, the cups warn us that the contents may be hot, so...) with a butterknife by taking a dollop and spreading it counter-clockwise until you're satisfied with the amount of frosting.

Hopefully you'll all enjoy these strange cupcakes! Expect many more to come!