F is for French Toast Cupcakes

I got the iPad 2!  I really have it!  For my birthday (and Christmas and maybe Easter and the 4th of July too), Peter bought me the latest Apple toy and I am loving it!  Everything looks more beautiful on the iPad--even my work email and my online bank account.  What I like most about the iPad so far is an app called FlipBoard.  FlipBoard turns all my favorite blogs into an easy-to-read digital magazine, so I've been catching up on blogs I haven't read in a long time.  Not to mention, I'm on spring break now for the next week, so I have a lot of free time to immerse myself in cooking blogs, entertaining ideas, DIY projects, and spring fashions.  Jealous?

My 26th birthday was March 31st and it has been an awfully special week.  To start, the iPad came in the mail and Peter preloaded it with apps and my photos and bookmarks and music and all that good stuff.  I feel like a kid with a brand new shiny toy;  I hate to put it down!  Secondly, Peter took me to see a Cirque du Soleil show, Alegria, and that blew me away.  It was phenomenal!  My coworkers made my birthday very special by making cupcakes for my class, taking me out for lunch, and generally helping out to make my school day low-key and fun.  My friend Cynthia baked me a glorious lemon curd cake of my dreams and I'll be sharing that in a blog post later.  My friend Nicci spent her Friday off with me to take me out for lunch at Hamilton's, snack on cupcakes from Crazy Cakes, sip champagne, and walk on the Rivanna trail.  Lastly, my mom and grandma took me shopping in Richmond to get a new suitcase and a new springy outfit for my trip to New York this week.  Can it get much better than all this?!

Yes.  Why, yes it can!  Sometimes you can create a little birthday magic for yourself and I needed a special occasion to make these very special cupcakes.  Using the Big Oven app on the new iPad, I baked up a batch of very tasty French Toast cupcakes and I frosted them with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.  Who were the recipients of these delicious treats?  Why, my favorite group of eight-year-olds!  With frosting and raw sugar sprinkles all over their faces, they thanked me profusely and proclaimed, "It's like breakfast!" and "These are the best!"  So, there you have it folks.  Authentic, honest reviews!  These are very very very good cupcakes.

French Toast Cupcakes        
adapted from Big Oven

1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
2 tsp. maple syrup or extract
1/2 c. milk

Preheat your oven to 350.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl.  In your mixer, cream the butter and sugar until smooth.  Add the eggs one at a time.  Whisk in the maple syrup and then add the flour mixture and milk by alternating small amounts of each.  Beat until smooth.  Pour the batter into prepared muffin cups or mini muffin cups.  Bake 12-14 minutes in mini cups and 20-24 minutes in regular-sized muffin cups.  They should be light golden brown and the tops spring back when touched.  Let the cupcakes cool a few minutes in the pan and then move them to a cooling rack.  Frost the cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 pkg. cream cheese or neufchatel at room temperature
4 Tbsp. butter at room temperature
1-2 Tbsp. milk or cream
3 c. confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

In your mixer, blend the cream cheese and butter  on low speed.  Add the confectioner's sugar a little at a time, blending well after each addition.  Add the milk in small amounts until your frosting is a desired consistency.  Add the cinnamon and turn up the speed on your mixer until the frosting is fluffy.