For Fox Sake

Anytime we have company visit, obviously, I roll out the red carpet by serving a dessert fit for royalty. I mean, how much of a let down would it be if you came to the house of someone with a blog named "Kate Bakes Cakes," only to be served stale Oreo's or a week-old, store-bought Walmart cake (that blog would probably be named "Kate Provides Disappointment")? Since my in-laws, the Foxes, drove out from Texas this weekend to spend some time with us, it provided me with the perfect opportunity to try out both a cupcake recipe and cupcake decorating technique I had been dying to use for a fall-themed dessert. So, for Foxes sake, these buttered rum cupcakes came to be:

A group of foxes is called a skulk, but there is absolutely NO skulking involved when you eat one of these.

So, the Foxes are here, and I have foxes for the Foxes. It's a foxton of foxiness. Aside from being absolutely adorable, these cupcakes are so delicious I can barely stand it (but that's probably a side effect of the gluten and not the flavors themselves). I have never had buttered rum before, let alone created it myself, and now I'm completely obsessed. I was thinking outside the fox with this recipe, and I am so glad I did. The cupcake has wonderful cinnamon and nutmeg flavors swirled with spiced rum, and they're even topped with more rum in the buttered rum glaze and the cinnamon rum cream cheese frosting. It's the perfect dessert for in-laws or pirates, really. And at only 111 calories a cupcake (24 cupcakes total), you can eat them like three at a time to cop a pretty decent buzz thanks to all that Sailor Jerry's.

The real MVP.

This is such a simple recipe that tastes anything but, and all you need to make these buttered rum cupcakes are:

• 1 box yellow sugar free cake mix
• 3 egg whites at room temp
  
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce at room temp
  
• 1/2-3/4 cup of spiced rum (think Kraken, Sailor Jerry, or Captain Morgan. Pretty much, it should be named for or about pirates and the pirate life)*
• 1/2-3/4 cup of skim milk at room temp*
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

*The total amount of liquid you want to use is 1 1/4 cups. If you like being punched in the mouth by a pirate, use more rum; if you don't, opt for more skim milk. I only used 1 cup total of liquid, and I barely had enough batter for 24 cupcakes without that additional 1/4 cup. Lesson learned!

A few cupcakes ended up being very sad and small, but I'll eat them anyway.

Start by preheating the oven to 325 and lining two muffin tins with cupcake liners. Then dump all the ingredients into the bowl of stand mixer, blending on low for 30 seconds before bumping up the speed to medium high and mixing for two more minutes. Use a cookie scoop to help evenly distribute batter into your cupcake liners, and then bake the cupcakes for 18-21 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out of the center of a cupcake completely clean.

Your house is gonna smell like hot buttered rum, and it make cause you to turn into a swashbuckling pirate. Worth it.

Let your cupcakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely. While they're cooling, you can make the buttered rum. Or butter yourself up with rum. Or both. Both is good.

You're gonna hate how easy this is.

Only because once you've learned how easy it is to make buttered rum, you're gonna make it weekly. Here's all you need: two tablespoons of butter, two tablespoons of rum, and 1.5 tsp of cornstarch. In a small saucepan, melt the butter on medium heat. Stir in the rum, and let things heat up for about 1 minute before adding in the cornstarch. Use a whisk to constantly stir until the mixture thickens up to a maple syrup type of consistency....side note, use buttered rum with maple syrup on your next stack of pancakes...will. change. your. life. Now, pour this into a bowl and let it cool for about 15 minutes.

Mmm, buttery rum goodness.

Use either a basting brush or the back of a spoon, and spread a layer of rum butter on top of each FULLY COOLED cupcake (if your cupcakes are warm, remember, butter is know for its meltability). Sadly, you will use every ounce of the rum butter for your cupcakes, so there won't be any left to lick out of the bowl. That just means you have to make more...

Good thing we've got a whole bottle of rum!

As exceptional as the rum butter is, it is made infinitely better with the addition of a cinnamon rum cream cheese frosting. To make:

• 1/2 cup of butter at room temp
• 8 ounces of 1/3 less fat cream cheese at room temp
• 1 TBS spiced rum
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  
• 3 cups of Lakanto powered monkfruit sweetener
• Orange, maroon, and black gel dye 
• Oreos, cut into tiny triangles for ears
  

Start by whipping together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Then add in the rum, vanilla, cinnamon, and powdered monkfruit. Blend on low for a few seconds, then switch to medium high and blend until everything is incorporated. Now, I had leftover black frosting (thanks, Halloween baking, reminding me once again why I live for you), but you will want to divvy up your frosting so you have a tiny bowl dyed black for the fox noses and eyes, and then divide the remaining frosting so 1/3 is left plain, and 2/3 is dyed orange with a drop or two of maroon to give your foxes a fur coat that is made for photo ops. I ended up having about 1/4 of my orange frosting left, so if you use all your frosting, this will figure into a bit higher calorie count.

Now, let's get foxy!

I used a piping bag fitted with a #12 round tip to place a ring of white frosting on top of each cupcake. Then I used an angled spatula to smooth out.

Sorry, there's some math here.

Now, fit a piping bag with a #21 open star tip and your orange frosting. Start by pretty much creating a plus sign on the top of your white frosting. Then, fill in only the top half of the plus sign:

And don't forget the ears!

I took an Oreo, scraped the cream off (maybe ate that cream), and cut each side of 1 Oreo into eighths. I think I needed to do this a few times since the Oreo tops refused to cooperate with me and crumbled into uneven pieces against my unyielding knife skills.

You are one handsome fox.

To finish, place your black frosting into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip (I used a #3). Dot the orange star on the bottom of the cupcake with a small mound of black frosting, and then come in and add small dots for eyes. And voila! You've created a cupcake that is almost too cute to eat but thankfully smells like a cinnamon-rum heaven to remind you it's worth devouring.

But wait, there's more! Or less, in this case.

Like I said earlier, I ran reaaallly tight on batter toward the end without the extra liquid. I had 6 cupcakes that were little half cupcakes, so to find a way to make them look less sad and tiny (working title of my autobiography), I knew this was a job for sprinkles. I fit another piping bag with a 2D tip and more of my orange frosting.

I swirled each with one large rose and topped with orange sanding sugar.

Then used my other bag of orange frosting with the #21 tip to pipe little stars around the edge.

And because nothing is done without flair...I added some fall foliage sprinkles I had leftover from previous bakes.

Honestly, they may be only half full, but they're completely filled in my heart thanks to those sprinkles. As sly and cutesy those foxes are, these roses are absolutely gorgeous.

Looks like fall decided to finally show up in Florida. On a plate.

I have to reiterate- BUTTERED RUM IS FANTASTIC. Guys, I know I try to sell you on everything I bake because dessert should be savored by all and in as many flavors as possible, but buttered rum cupcakes might just be peak fall flavor. Sorry pumpkin, you've been replaced. I am renouncing my basic white girl status. I am now solely interested in buttered rum flavor for fall.

Clearly, this fox approves.

Since these have both butter and a cream cheese frosting, be sure to keep your cupcakes in the fridge until you're ready to devour the whole skulk of them. I actually made these a week ahead and froze them, frosting and all, and I take a few out of the freezer at a time and let them thaw out in the fridge (only takes an hour or two) before we enjoy them after dinner. Happy to report that the Foxes are enjoying the foxes, and I am still completely pleased with both the amount of fox puns in this blog and the divine flavor combos of rum, cinnamon, and spiced cream cheese frosting with every bite. If you bring these to your Thanksgiving feast, you're gonna make whatever aunt or cousin you can't stand look real lame for bringing just a pumpkin pie. Have your cupcakes and savor that small, petty victory (zero fox given). 'Til next time, my fellow eaters!

You could also stay home, while being safe, and socially distancing from everything except these cupcakes.