Heavenly Spice Cupcakes
(Makes 24 cupcakes)

Mildly spiced and not too sweet, these little cakes are a favorite of my children. You can make a wonderful frosting for them by replacing the milk or cream in American Butter Frosting with Caramel syrup, like the kind used in coffee shops. White Chocolate Frosting also works well with the spices in this cupcake.

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
3 whole eggs, graded large
1/4 cup mild flavored honey
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plain yogurt (you may use low-fat yogurt)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and adjust the racks so they divide the oven into thirds. Line 2 standard size cupcake pans with cupcake liners (there will be 24 wells). Set up your mise en place. (See the Baking Hints section of this web site.)

Place the butter and brown sugar in a mixing bowl and cream them on medium high speed for 5 to7 minutes, until the mixture is fluffy, smooth, and light in color. Add the eggs one at a time and beat on medium speed for 1 minute after each addition. Scrape the bowl and add the honey, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, nutmeg and salt. Beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds. Scrape the bowl again and add half of the flour, beating on low speed until the mixture is evenly blended, about 30 seconds. Add all of the yogurt and beat on medium low speed for 30-45 seconds. Scrape the bowl, add the remaining flour, and beat on low speed for 30 seconds. Remove the bowl from the mixer and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl well, giving the batter a few stirs to be sure it is evenly mixed.

Divide the batter evenly into the lined cupcake wells. [If you only have one cupcake pan (with 12 wells) you should measure the cupcake batter and use exactly half of it to fill the wells, then bake them, remove them from the pan, cool the pan, and repeat the lining, filling and baking process.]

Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for about 15-18 minutes, reversing the pans halfway through the baking time. The cupcakes will be done when a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and place the pans on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Carefully remove the cupcakes from the pans and place them on the wire racks to finish cooling. Do not frost the cupcakes until they are completely cool.

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