I have fallen in love. One bite, and I knew that cupcakes would never be the same again. Imagine cupcakes that encapsulate the spellbinding allure of roses and the exotic spices of the east.
How could anyone not love cupcakes that taste like roses? Mmmm
You will be transported to lands far away, and I’m not sure that you’ll want to return to plain old vanilla cupcakes after this! Here is the cupcake recipe I made last night, and may your taste buds and imagination be as enchanted as mine have been…
Adapted from The Joy of Baking’s, Vanilla Cupcakes
Cardamom Rose Cupcakes
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature
2/3 cup (130 grams) sugar or sucanat
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon of rose water
1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (60 ml.) milk
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.
Cream together the butter and sugar/sucanat until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, and then beat in the rose water. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom. I used my mortar and pestle to crush my cardamom to a fine powder, and the smell is mesmerizing.
With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. You’re done! Fill the muffin cups, making sure the batter is evenly distributed. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Be careful not to over bake or your cupcakes will be dry. Place on a wire rack to cool, and allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
I thought these were delicious even alone or drizzled with honey, but couldn’t resist frosting some. My cupcakes have a golden hue because I used sucanat instead of refined white sugar. It’s basically just sugar that hasn’t been refined and therefore retains its naturally occurring vitamins and minerals and has a pretty caramel colour. It is similar to the sugar cane products panela, jaggery and muscavado, but I find it easiest to use. I enjoy using whole foods whenever possible, and it makes me feel a bit less guilty about eating so many cupcakes… Enjoy!
(Sadly, I’m still using my phone to take pictures but hope to get my camera fixed soon!)
Searching For Sugar Plums 
I want 🙂 Again… I really do need to learn how to bake.
It’s not hard, if you have any questions or want me to show or explain anything at all, I’d be delighted to help you learn. I know you already have lots of patience of extraordinary attention to detail because you take such breathtaking photographs, and that’s really all that’s needed for baking. There’s no doubt in my mind that you could make anything you set your mind to 🙂
Looks delicious, hope it tastes delicious too. With the cardamon in it, does one actually taste the rose water? You could also substitute the milk with buttermilk, I love baking with buttermilk. I always just use salted butter where a recipe requires salt added. Thanks for sharing and have a pleasant day!!!
Yes you can, cardamom and rose water complement each other beautifully, sort of like cinnamon and nutmeg do in apple pie. I bought some rose water recently and was looking for a recipe to use it in, and was intrigued when I found a lot of Persian baked goods called for the two together. You should try it at some point, it has such a lovely and exotic taste. What I made was similar to a Yazdi cake, but without as much butter. And I always love baking with buttermilk too or I sour normal milk with vinegar as a substitute. I also adore baking with yogurt. I chose the Joy of Baking vanilla cupcake recipe after searching the internet for people’s favourite cupcakes, and it had great reviews. Thanks for your comment, and I hope you have a nice day too!
If it had nice reviews then it’s worth trying. I shall give it a go one of these fine days. Thanks! I keep on thinking today is a weekend coz my kids didn’t go to school. Happy Friday!
Thanks! And I never bother with recipes that don’t have outstanding reviews, it always pays to do your research first rather than make something mediocre. If you’re going to put in the effort, might as well make sure it’s awesome. It’s why I chuckled when you said you “googled” your way to an okra recipe. I do the same all the time.
Love cardamom, the cupcakes are beautiful!
Thank you! Cardamom is one of my favourite spices, glad you came by 🙂
I’ve never used rose water before, but cardamom is a favorite. These look fabulous!
Thank you for the nice comment! You can get rose water at any Middle Eastern grocery store and it smells soooooo good. You can also add some to frosting if you like. Or baklava..mmm.
Cardamoms, rose water, cupcakes…what could be more enchanting than this? And what not to love about this recipe?
Lovely and scented photos 🙂
You are too sweet!! I’m happy you’re also a lover of cardamom and rose water, I’ve just discovered this intoxicating combination and am in love with it 🙂 I’m also pleased that you picked up on the scented photos, your sense of smell is quite impressive 😉 Thanks for the lovely comment!
I just made the recipe and realized (too late) that the salt should be 1/4 teaspoon, not 1 1/4 teaspoon!
Oh, I hope they still tasted good! That reminds me of the first time I attempted a bread recipe when I was a kid.. except I accidentally added 1/2 cup of salt instead of sugar… oops!
I’m not into baking at all but the name of ‘Rose water’ in your recipe filled up my senses immediately! How I crave a slice of that rose-y cake right now! This is a must try for me. Thanks a ton for the recipe 🙂