Easy Eggnog Cupcakes

The smell of these cupcakes baking will make the whole house smell like the holidays.

The cakes themselves are very quick and easy when you use a gluten-free all purpose baking mix (or if you aren't gluten-free, then feel free to substitute any mix you like). Look for an eggnog that is as pure as possible with no corn syrup in it. At Crave Bake Shop, we make our own eggnog and pastry cream for the filling, which means that it can take almost four hours to make a batch of these from start to finish. Because I know that everyone is extremely busy at this time of year, I'm giving you the shortcut version so it's not as intimidating to make. This quick version takes about 45 minutes from start to finish, freeing up 3 hours for you to kick back, drink some eggnog and catch up on whatever you want!

Cake

1 1/3 cups gluten-free all purpose baking flour
​1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 tsp​ nutmeg​​
3/4 cup eggnog​​​
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon ​​rum

Eggnog Cream filling

2 cups vanilla pudding, cooked according to directions and cooled
2 tablespoons rum
½ teaspoon ​​nutmeg

Rum-Nutmeg Italian Meringue Butter Cream

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
whites of 4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons rum
​1 3/4 teaspoons nutmeg​​
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste​​​​
pinch of salt

 
Make the cake:

Preheat oven to 325˚ Fahrenheit.

Line a 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners and set aside.

Measure the gluten-free all-purpose baking mix and set aside.

Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and continue creaming until the color of the butter mixture is several shades lighter and the mixture is very fluffy.

Add the eggnog slowly, and then stop the mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the nutmeg and the rum and stir to combine or mix the last few strokes by hand. 

Evenly fill the cupcake cavities 2/3 of the way full (using a large ice cream scoop is the best way to make sure the cupcake batter is evenly dispersed).

Bake until the cupcakes are done and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 14-18 minutes.

Remove from oven and place each cupcake on a cooling rack until completely cool.

 Make the Eggnog Cream filling

Stir the rum and nutmeg into the vanilla pudding. Spoon the filling into a pastry bag or a large ziplock bag and squeeze the cream filling into one corner and cut about 1/2 inch off the tip of the bag.

 
Make the Rum-Nutmeg Italian Meringue Butter Cream:

Put the sugar and water in a small sauce pot and wipe down the sides of the pot with a wet pastry brush to ensure no sugar crystals get in the syrup. Boil the syrup mixture until a candy thermometer registers 248˚.

Meanwhile, in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whip attachment, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on high speed until the soft peak stage.

Slow down the mixer to medium and very slowly pour the hot sugar syrup into the whipping egg whites.

Once all the sugar is in, turn the mixer speed back up to high and whip until the mixing bowl containing the whites mixture is no longer warm to the touch.

Add the room temperature butter in chunks and mix until fully incorporated, stopping the mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl several times.

Add the nutmeg, rum and vanilla bean paste slowly and mix until combined.

Fill another pastry bag or large ziplock bag with the butter cream (a pastry piping tip is optional but is a good way to ensure the butter cream comes out evenly). Snip the corner off the bag and set aside.

Using an apple corer, hollow the center out of each cooled cupcake and fill with the eggnog cream filling.

Frost the cooled cupcakes and enjoy!

 copyright 2011--Kyra Bussanich
Crave Bake Shop
www.cravebakeshop.com​