Peach Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

My office holds a monthly birthday party for everyone in our group (about 150) that relies on the kindness of my co-workers. Every month the organizer asks for volunteers to bake for the group and every month it’s amazing to see how many amazing bakers there are in the office. This past month’s celebration saw yellow cake with chocolate frosting, lemon cheesecake bars, berry crumbles, fudgy brownies, chocolate cupcakes, spice bars, and two types of cupcakes I brought in to bribe everyone into liking me.

I worked at this office my first year of graduate school as an intern and now that I’m back, I wanted to make sure they’d all think of me nicely again. Mercenary that I am, that meant volunteering to make something when the organizer asked for additional volunteers for this month’s celebration. Never mind that I didn’t have a muffin tin at the time, I was going to make delicious delicious cupcakes and everyone would think “that Julia, where’s she been all my life for the last year?” (Answer: writing a thesis).

This is the first of two recipes that I made and I will definitely be making again. They were pretty easy to make (made even easier by the help of my friend Ellen who gave up five hours of her Sunday, including several long walks up and down the hill leading to my apartment to pick up some last minute ingredients at the grocery story) and received rave reviews from my coworkers. Mission accomplished!

    

Peach cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese frosting

From Smitten Kitchen 

These cupcakes are very light and stay moist for a long time – mine lasted almost a week in a refrigerated airtight container.

A note about fancy decorating: I made lots of little dollops when frosting these cupcakes which looked amazing, but left me with a ton of left over frosting (not the worst thing to happen honestly). If you think you’re going to do something similar, you might consider halving the frosting recipe. The cupcakes are sweet and moist enough that you don’t need to overwhelm them with frosting (though it doesn’t hurt!).

An additional note: the fancy decorating was made possible by my friend Alisha, who bought me a beautiful frosting decoration set for my birthday a couple months ago. I know it's weird I have frosting tips but not a rolling pin, but that's how I roll. Or rather, don't roll.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

Pinch of nutmeg

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups butter milk (sour cream or full-fat yogurt would also work)

3 large peaches, peeled, cored, and chopped into small bite-sized pieces

Frosting:

1 1/4 cup brown sugar (preferably light but I made it with dark and it still tasted great)

1/4 cup cornstarch*

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 8-oz packages of cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

* The cornstarch is necessary to keep the frosting fluffy. Without it, the weight of the brown sugar will make leave a thinner and clumpier frosting.

Equipment: 

Muffin pan, cupcake liners, hand mixer (recommended)

Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 muffin pans with liners (you might have extra batter depending on how much you fill each liner, I ended up making about 30).

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg together. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugars together until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl in between to ensure everything is incorporated. Add the vanilla and then gently add the buttermilk (or sour cream/yogurt).

Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold in peach chunks.

Add the batter into the cupcake liners, filling each liner about 90 percent. Bake 18 to 22 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes about five minutes in the pan before taking out to finish cooling on the wire rack.

Make the frosting: In a small bowl, whisk the brown sugar, cornstarch, and powdered sugar together. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the cornstarch mixture and vanilla, beat until frosting is smooth.

Chill in the refrigerator until the frosting in the bowl thickens back up, about 30 minutes – which is about how long it should take for your cupcakes to finish cooling completely. Then spread or dollop onto the cupcakes.

Makes: 24-30 cupcakes