Terry Hope Romero

This is the quintessential fall cupcake. Prepare the apple cider just as if you were going to drink it, boiled with plenty of whole cinnamon, cloves, and allspice.

Nothing says waiting for the holiday season to end like these moist, fluffy gingerbread cupcakes. Bring them to your next familial bash and eat them as you grit your teeth and marvel at your family.

A very thick glaze with a bold, caramel-like flavor, this is an interesting way to use brown rice syrup in desserts. The intense flavor goes perfectly with spice or any strongly flavored cupcake. The texture of this glaze is very sticky at first but it well set up after an hour, or pop finished cupcakes in the fridge to speed it up.

This is our all-purpose “go to” frosting. It’s great for piping into lush, swirling mountains of frostiness and just as good for spreading onto a cupcake like rolling hills of heaven. It make a lot, probably 4 cups’ worth, so you can halve the recipe if you are going to be spreading the frosting rather than piping it.