Egg Nog Cupcakes

What says the holidays more than egg nog? Well, family, friends and loved ones are the most important of course, but egg nog only comes around once a year and when it does, I have to make something with it. Last year, I made egg nog breakfast bread and this year I decided to do egg nog cupcakes. This has been a flavor on my must try list for awhile now and this seemed to be the perfect time to make it. I must admit, I did make an egg nog cupcake last year, but they just didn't seem right. The flavor was there but the frosting was off for some reason. Nevertheless, I am back this year and trying them again. A new recipe and a little twist and I now have a great cupcake!

This cupcake is perfect for the holidays. It has just the perfect amount of holiday cheer and a little Christmas spirit - aka booze. There is spiced rum in this cupcake! Of course you can choose to leave it out or substitute the rum for rum extract (especially for the kiddos), but if you can use it, do. It just gives the cupcake a little something something. You know what I mean? Since I was serving these to a large group and knowing that kids may potentially eat them, I put rum in the cupcakes since the booze would cook out, but added rum extract to the frosting. You would have never known there was no rum in the frosting. It was delicious! Are you drooling yet? I am. I now wish I had saved one in the freezer. What was I thinking?

This cupcake originally had no eggs. I was a little concerned that the cupcake would come out flat (not that flat is bad, I just like a little dome on my cupcakes), so I decided to add one egg. Let me tell you - those cupcakes had the perfect little dome for topping with that delicious rum and eggnog butter cream. If you want to keep the cupcake vegan, of course you can leave the egg out and use soy egg nog. Soy nog is my nog of choice. I personally think it tastes the same, but those lactose lovers out there may tell you differently. When making these cupcakes, I went all out and used the real nog, but soy, coconut or any kind of nog will work here. I bet no one would know. Just don't tell them when they try it!

This recipe makes 24 cupcakes exactly (I was shocked, because no other recipe I have tired ever makes the amount they say it will!), but I did an additional batch to have a few extra cupcakes (for samples of course- I don't feed people icky cupcake!) and then I also needed extra for a thin cake to make the snowflake cutouts for the top. I decided to get fancy with that, so it's totally optional for you.  A simple dusting of nutmeg will be just as delicious and just as pretty, I promise! Now, who's ready for egg noggy deliciousness?

the most important decision - what type of rum to use. I went with spiced!

egg noggy ingredients

rum, eggs, sugar and nog all sloshing around.

the nutmeg just gives it that holiday zing

cupcakes before...

...cupcakes after! look at those little domes!

here is the extra thin cakes I was telling you about.

frosting ingredients. I didn't use rum here. I don't know how that ended up in the picture.

yum yum egg noggy cupcakes!

Egg Nog Cupcakes (slightly adapted from www.annieseats.com)

For the cupcakes:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ cup dark rum or bourbon (optional) or rum extract (to taste, about 1 tablespoon)
1 cup eggnog
¼ cup vegetable or canola oil
1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup sugar

For the frosting:
20 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
Pinch of nutmeg
2½ tbsp. eggnog
1 tbsp. dark rum (0ptional) or 1-2 teaspsoon rum extract (to taste)

Now who's ready to have these on their holiday desert table?