Sukaina’s Cinnabon Cupcakes

Currently living in Dubai, Sukaina is a young stay at home mom with a strong desire to serve her husband and little girl meals that are prepared completely from scratch.  Her need for a creative outlet led her to start Lick My Spoon and her blog also allows Sukaina to indulge in her love of photography.   At Lick My Spoon readers will see how spending 18 years of her life living in Tanzania have influenced some Sukaina’s recipe choices.  She also appears quite willing to accept suggestions from her readers to showcase more East African dishes as you will see here.  Mom’s influence is never too far from her blog either,  as evident in this beautiful post by Sukaina.  I’m very grateful that she is here today with her guest post, sharing her very personal story and her recipe with us.  You can follow Sukaina on Twitter @lickmyspoon247

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I came across Frosting for the Cause on Twitter and as soon as I read about Paula’s mission. I knew I wanted to be involved. For much of my life, I have been lucky enough not to have had a close brush with cancer. None of my close friends or close family had been affected. My grandmother passed away from breast cancer before I was born but that’s as close as it got. I lived a carefree and happy life until on my 27th birthday, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I’m a very private person and this is the first time I’m opening up about my fight with cancer. Many of my closest friends don’t know I had it! And what a shock that it was to hear those words- ‘I’m sorry- the results are in and it’s Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.” No 27 year old would ever think that they would get affected by this horrible disease and no 27 year old should have to hear those words. I had just had a baby and believe it or not, my first reaction was- I’m going to lose my beautiful long hair!

I had chemotherapy for four months (and yes, I did lose most of my hair!) and radiation for one month. I’m happy to say I’ve been in remission for over a year. My purpose for writing this post is to tell you that YOU need to be vigilant and be your own advocate. Check your body for lumps regularly and if you suspect anything, then get it checked out. NOW. I was lucky enough that I was diagnosed at an early stage. The earlier you go, the better your prognosis. And be positive, have hope. Paula put it best in her first post for Frosting For A Cause that cancer patients are draped in a
pashmina of hope, right from the time they initially find a lump to …… forever. Hope helped me overcome my fear- my fear of what chemo would be like, my fear of pain and needles, my fear of losing my hair. Hope made me stronger- stronger physically knowing that the pain would end at some point, mentally stronger and more positive so I could beat cancer. Hope made me look forward to the next day- plan my baby’s first birthday, celebrate my tenth wedding anniversary, make sure I was cured so I could attend my sister’s wedding. Hope brought my family together and I live in hope that this was my last encounter with cancer. And I’m sure we all collectively hope that a cure for cancer is found soon.

It was because of my brush with cancer that I started this blog and took a keen interest in photography. I needed a distraction and now it’s become a passion. For that, I will forever be grateful. Today, I’m going to share with you a recipe for Cinnabon Cupcakes with a Cream Cheese Glaze. If you like the classic cinnabon rolls, you will love these cupcakes. The cake itself is super moist with a tender crumb and the frosting is basically a clone of the original in my opinion. I have made the frosting slightly runny so it is more like a glaze that you get at Cinnabon, but you can always just use your favourite cream cheese frosting that will stand up to piping.

*Cinnabon Cupcakes with a Cream Cheese Glaze*
*Ingredients: *

*For the cake:*
3 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 cup butter (room temperature)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs (room temperature)
1 cup whole milk (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract

*For the frosting:*
225 gms cream cheese (not softened)
1/4 cup butter , room temperature
2 tbs caramel sauce
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

*For the caramel chocolate syrup:*
4 tbs caramel sauce
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp cinnamon powder

*Directions:*
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cupcake tray with liners. In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon powder. Using the paddle attachment on a stand mixer, beat the butter until creamy.
Add the sugar and cream with the butter for 7 minutes, scraping the bowl when needed (batter should be nearly white and fluffy). Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Turn the speed to low and alternatively, add the flour mixture and milk, starting and ending with flour until just mixed. Add vanilla until just mixed. Divide the batter into the cupcake liners until 2/3 full (I used an ice cream scoop which was the perfect amount to fill 1 cupcake). Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out just clean ( mine took 20-23 minutes although the original recipe said 12-15
minutes). Cool for 5-10 minutes on a rack. Remove each cupcake from the tray and wrap in cling film individually to seal in moisture. Cool on wire racks and frost when cold.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter. Using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer, beat this mixture until smooth and creamy. Add the caramel sauce. Turn the mixture to low and add the powdered sugar
until the mixture is homogeneous. Beat on high speed or two minutes or until the mixture is smooth.

To make the caramel chocolate sauce, mix all the ingredients together and stir until well combined and smooth.

Cupcake recipe adapted from here.