Butterbeer Cupcakes

1. For the cupcakes: Put the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Let it melt and cook until nutty and golden and becomes gorgeous brown butter. Set it aside and let it cool. In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and allspice. Then in the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the cooled brown butter and brown sugar and beat them together with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs in one at a time and then add the vanilla and let all of that get thoroughly beat in. Then slowly pour in 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed by the buttermilk. Then add in another 1/3 of the flour mixture followed by the cream soda. Then add in the last of the flour mixture and make sure it all gets well combined into a lovely batter.

2. Preheat your oven to 350 F and line a 12-count cupcake pan with paper liners. Fill each of the paper liners with 1/3 cup of the butterbeer batter to keep them uniform in size. Bake them for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean. Remove from oven and set them aside and let them cool.

3. While the cupcakes bake and cool, prepare the butterscotch ganache and the buttercream frosting. For the ganache, fill a small saucepan about halfway with water and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Combine the butterscotch chips and heavy cream in a heat proof bowl (one that fits into the saucepan) and put the bowl over the pot of simmering water. Make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water, it should be right above it. With a heat proof spoon or rubber spatula, stir the butterscotch chips and cream until they are fully melted together into a shiny liquid ganache. Take it off the heat and set it aside.

4. You need your stand mixer again for the butterscotch buttercream frosting. In the clean bowl of the mixer combine all of the frosting ingredients except the powdered sugar. Beat it thoroughly together with the paddle attachment until shiny and fluffy. Then slowly pour in the powdered sugar and let it get beat in until you have a thick, rich buttercream.

5. Now it’s time to assemble the cupcakes! Either using an offset spatula or piping bag frost each cupcake with the buttercream. With a spoon drizzle some of the leftover butterscotch ganache over all of frosted cupcakes. Then top each of them with a butterscotch candy.

They’re gorgeous in taste and appearance. I felt like I got to go back to The Three Broomsticks and have a butterbeer with Madame Rosmerta. The butterscotch and cream soda just make these cupcakes incredible. Make a batch and get transported to that wonderful wizarding world!