Peach Cupcakes with Ginger Peach Buttercream

Using leftovers to create something new and wonderful is an art form (in my humble opinion). With an ear of cooked corn, half a grilled chicken breast, half a can of refried beans, part of a block of mozzarella, and some flour tortillas, I can make you a delicious Mexican dinner. It's a way not to waste food and also to not be eating the same meal for a week just because it made a ton.

Last week I showed you a delicious recipe for ginger brandy peaches. Those peaches (and their delicious syrup) play a role in this weeks recipe: Ginger Peach Cupcakes. I admit that these weren't so much leftovers as they were something I forbade Nathan from eating because I knew I wanted to make them into cupcakes. But that's not the point! The point is that I used one food on this blog to make another and that deserves recognition and, dare I say, praise.

The cupcakes were made for a baby shower along with regular old chocolate cupcakes (which honestly weren't as good). I'd purchased a new frosting tip (which I inserted into my ever present ziplock bag) that made awesome and professional looking swirls. Some people at the shower even


asked the hostess what bakery they were from. Good moment for me!

If you've paid attention to the other cupcake recipes on this blog, you'll probably notice a similarity in the base recipe. That is not a coincidence. Once you have a good base cupcake recipe, you can start to feel confident in customizing it with different flavors.

Peach Cupcakes 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour plus a couple of tablespoons
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup syrup from Ginger Brandied Peaches (don't quote me, but I think using half a cup of peach yogurt would be equally good here)
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs

1 whole Ginger Brandied Peach chopped

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350.
In a large mixing bow, mix together oil, sugar, syrup, milk, and eggs until combined. In a separate bow, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder and baking soda. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

In your now empty dry ingredients bowl, mix together the chopped peaches and the extra couple tablespoons of flour. Fold the peaches into your batter.

Fill up your lined muffin about three quarters full with batter. Put the tray into the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 325. Bake for about 19 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

Ginger Peach Butter Cream

Ingredients

1/2 cup of unsalted butter softened
1/4 cup of syrup from Ginger Brandied Peach
1/4 cup of peach preserves
approximately 4 cups of powdered sugar

Directions

Cream the butter with a mixer. Add in about two cups of powdered sugar and incorporate. Add in syrup and preserves. continue to add powdered sugar until at the desired consistency. Peaks should stay in place, but not so thick that it won't go through a piping bag. I also added about 2 drops of yellow food coloring just to make it a bit prettier.

The garnish is a slice of fresh piece and piece of candied ginger.