Mini Dungeness Crab Cupcakes

Looking for the perfect bite size treat? These delicious savory cupcakes can be whipped up within an hour.

Dungeness Crab's are a true gem of the sea, lending their sweet, succulent awesomeness to these miniature cakes. To top off these beauties, I made a luscious Cayenne Spiced Lemon Cream Cheese frosting,which will explode in your mouth with the first bite. The acid from the lemon cuts through the spiciness of the cayenne, making it the perfect combo.

To save time, I bought fresh de-shelled crab,  but you can opt to do the de-shelling yourself and buy the crab whole.


Recipe inspired by Kathy Casey's, Creole Crab Cakes, Sips & Apps. Chronicle Books.

Step 1: Ingredients

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cupcake Batter:

1/3cup  diced onion

1/3 cup red bell pepper

1 stalk celery

2 Tbsp butter

1/3 cup orange bell pepper

2 large garlic cloves minced

6 Tbsp all purpose flour

1 tea sugar

1/2 cup cornmeal

2 tsp baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning

1 egg

1/4 cup whole milk

1/4 cup sour cream

8 oz fresh de-shelled Dungeness Crab

Spicy Lemon Frosting:

1 8oz pkg. cream cheese

2-3 Tbsp milk

Juice from one lemon squeezed

Sprinkles:

1 pkg. fresh chives


Equipment:

Mini Muffin Tin

Pipping Bag

Piping Tip

Comments

[susanchen2011]

Thank you for your detail photos.

[mrclueless]

Those look good. Your like a Goddess of Inspiration... Keep up the good work, cant wait to see what you come up with next. Gonna try making these, my son loves crab. Wonder if lobster would work? Might try it. Have a great day!!

[lmnopeas]

Lobster Cupcakes! What a great idea. It would work just as well.

These were a big hit with my boys. I made a version of the frosting without the cayenne and they gobbled them up. Have a great weekend!

[allen]

Just finished snarfing down my first batch and they were pretty good. Not "Oh my God, life can never be this good again", good but good enough to make again.

So here's my take.

I didn't use Dungeness, or any other kind of crab. Pecunary considerations dictated that artificial crab stuff made out of fish but the cupcakes were pretty tasty.

Also, I used a silicone cupcake pan which brings up an important point: don't neglect testing the cupcakes for done-ness. The silicone mold ran the cooking time out to 45 minutes before my testing knife came out clean. The cupcakes were still moist and didn't get too brown and they tasted fine. If I'd dumped them out according to the recommended time it would have been a mess.

When I used a steel cupcake mold the cupcakes were done in fifteen minutes.

Bottom line? Good enough to serve to guests.

Oh, I didn't make the topping since it didn't seem to go with the cupcakes too well in my mind but I think the next time I make thise recipe I will make the topping.

Good job.

[RollerScrapper]

Oooh I love crab and I love cupcakes. Great looking food you have there! I also love your cake plate, so elegant!

[lmnopeas]

Thank you!