Oktoberfest Cupcakes... and welcome to Blogger!

So... what are we doing here??  Lately, I have been feeling way too long winded for Tumblr... its a great site, and I really love the photo-blogging trend it has inspired... But to me, food is love and when I love something I need to talk about it!  So I have decided to extend my reach into the interwebs once again and join Blogger - Welcome!  Please continue to visit my Tumlbr page at adventuresincupcakery.tumblr.com for additional photos and my first few cupcake adventures (which I copied here).  Anyway, enough accounting.  On to the good stuff: cupcakes!   

It’s fall, and you know what that means… Oktoberfest of course! (What, you thought I was going to say pumpkin? pshaw) In case you grew up directly beneath a large boulder, Oktoberfest is a 16 day celebration of beer held in Munich, Germany that has been lovingly adopted by malt and hops enthusiasts across the globe… Myself included.  In honor of this haze-inducing holiday, I have baked!

Oktoberfest Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

For these cupcakes, I recommend using an Oktoberfest beer that has a good beer flavor - nothing too malty, the beer taste won't come through once they're baked.  I used Heavy Seas Marzen - delicious to drink and great for baking!  I poured out the beer and let it sit for a little while before I baked it to release some of the fizziness... but not too much!  

1 cup Oktoberfest beer
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp each allspice, nutmeg, cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Fill 12-cup cupcake tin with liners.
Mix together the first 5 ingredients until sugar dissolved and frothy.  Sift in the remaining ingredients and mix until combined and there are no lumps.  Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 of the way (it works out to a tiny bit more.. just use all your batter and make them even).  Bake 18-20 minutes.  Drink the rest of your beer.  Let cool before frosting.

Yum!!

These came out delicious!!  You smell the beer as soon as you peel off the liner, and they have a great sweetness and spice.  Also, you get the beer flavor, but not too much - yumerlicious!

I confess, the frosting on the cupcakes in the picture was my attempt at a brown sugar frosting which I thought would have been a great pairing with the cupcake.  Unfortunately, I tried veganizing this recipe and it didn't quite work out as planned.. I think either my margarine was too soft or I messed up the roux or there was just too much liquid - the frosting refused to hold together - but it tasted delicious! I will try it again and make it perfect :)  I recommend a simple vanilla buttercream anyway - I made them this weekend and it was great!  The frosting tasted good but didn't compete with the beer flavor or the cupcake... so we will have to find something else to top with the brown sugar frosting - I guess I will have to make more cupcakes!  Will the atrocities I endure never end??

Thank you to my beer geek husband and my friends at Growler and Gill for inspiring beer-baked-goods!  Also, they will be selling these cupcakes at their Grand Opening celebration next weekend!  With the delicious vanilla frosting of course...  I'm so excited!!  I will definitely bake those batches with some extra love... Get 'em while they're hot!  (Obviously they'll be cooled by the time you buy them... its just an expression...)