Brown Sugar Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

These Brown Sugar Cupcakes are dessert in its purest form. Nothing fancy or overdone here. No piped frosting, no swirled batter, no zest or garnish. Just simple, sweet goodness. 

This is the kind of dessert I could eat everyday. Don't get me wrong, I love chocolaty brownies and dense, creamy cheesecake, but I couldn't eat either every day. But these...well...let's just say these cupcakes disappeared...quickly. 

The brown sugar in this cupcake provides a rich sweetness without forcing you to immediately change into sweatpants. As Goldilocks would say, they're just right! Bake these for your mom, for your sweetie, for your kids. Take them on a picnic or to the church potluck or your sister's birthday party. I promise they'll fit right in. And I promise they'll be yummy. 


Brown Sugar Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Yield: 23 cupcakes
Recipe adapted from ezrapoundcake.com

Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup buttermilk

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Line standard muffin tins with cupcake liners.
3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
4. Cream butter and sugar together in a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. With mixer on low speed, add 1/3 of dry mixture to butter mixture followed by 1/2 of the buttermilk. Repeat with another 1/3 dry mixture, second half of buttermilk, then the final 1/3 of the dry mixture. Mix until combined...DO NOT BEAT!
6. Divide batter among muffin cups. Batter will be thick!
7. Bake cupcakes about 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
8. Let pans cool on wire racks.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
Yield: Enough to frost at least 30 cupcakes
Recipe from ezrapoundcake.com

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch salt
4-5 cups powdered sugar
2-4 Tablespoons milk

Directions:
1. Beat the cream cheese on medium speed for about 1 minute. Scrape the bowl and add butter, beating for 1-2 minutes,
or until completely combined.
2. Add brown sugar, vanilla extracat, and salt. Beat until incorporated.
3. Reduce speed to low, and add 2 cups powdered sugar. Slowly add sugar alternating with the milk
until you've reaching desired tate and consistency.