Spiced Brown Sugar Cupcakes, Vanilla-Filled

Steps

1. Set the cream cheese out to soften and keep the heavy cream in the fridge. Melt the butter and let it cool slightly. Divide the cinnamon: 5 g for the batter and 1 g for dusting. Divide the vanilla: 5 g for the batter and 3 g for the filling.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
3. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, the 5 g of cinnamon for the batter, the ground ginger and the nutmeg.
4. In a second bowl, whisk the melted butter with the brown sugar until smooth, then whisk in the eggs one at a time, followed by the buttermilk and the 5 g of vanilla for the batter.
5. Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and fold gently just until no dry streaks remain.
6. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 liners, filling each about two-thirds full.
7. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until the tops spring back and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Cool the cupcakes in the tin for 5 minutes, then move them to a rack and cool completely, about 1 hour.
9. For the vanilla filling, beat the softened cream cheese with the powdered sugar and the remaining 3 g of vanilla until smooth. In a separate cold bowl, whip the heavy cream to firm peaks, then fold the whipped heavy cream into the cream cheese mixture.
10. With a small knife or apple corer, cut a cone about 2.5 cm wide and deep from the top of each cooled cupcake; set the cones aside.
11. Spoon or pipe about two-thirds of the vanilla filling into the hollows, replace the cake cones, and pipe the remaining one-third of the vanilla filling on top.
12. Dust the tops with the reserved 1 g of cinnamon. Serve, or refrigerate up to 2 days.