Larry’s most favorite dessert tends towards anything with warm spices – gingerbread, apple pie, pumpkin pie. So he really liked these cupcakes, which were a bit of work (lots of ingredients, hand-candied ginger). I prefer cupcakes that have a pretty swirl of buttercream on top, but this glaze was easy and decorating was as simple as dipping the cupcakes into the glaze (made of powdered sugar, coffee, vanilla, molasses). The glaze was way too liquid using the recipe and I had to dump a lot more powdered sugar in to get it to the right consistency. Next time, the coffee gets drizzled in to reach the correct consistency.

Also, these cupcakes are dairy-free (great for my friends who can’t have dairy), and since there’s only one egg, can easily be made vegan.

• Gingerbread Cupcakes with Candied Ginger (The Craft of Baking, p. 161)