A Late Christmas Entry -- Egg Nog Cupcakes with Rum Frosting

On my way to work one morning in December, I thought to myself, "I haven't had egg nog yet this season." Then I thought, "I should make egg nog cupcakes! Wait, what kind of frosting? Rum!" The rum frosting was inspired by my friend Steve's Facebook post "Wrapping gifts with 2 kids running around like animals. Gonna need some egg nog with lots of rum." Thus, the egg nog cupcake with rum frosting was born. This made its debut at a New Year's Eve party and was a big hit.

I decided to use my basic chameleon cupcake recipe, but to use egg nog instead of milk.

Egg Nog Cupcake with Rum Frosting

• 2 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda>
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 c. butter (room temperature)
• 2 c. sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla>
• 11/2 c. egg nog>

Preheat oven to 350F. Line tins with cupcake liners. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cream butter and sugar together and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Makes 24 cupcakes.

Rum Frosting

To be honest, I don't have an exact recipe for frosting. I cream some butter (1/4 - 1/2c.), add some icing sugar (about a bag), add 1 tsp. vanilla and some milk until it's the desired consistency. If I make it too runny, I add more icing sugar. In this case, instead of vanilla, I used 1 tsp. rum flavouring. Then, frost your cupcakes and dust with some nutmeg.