Ginger Pear Cupcakes with Miso Salted Caramel

The crystallized ginger on top of these cupcakes was a last minute addition.  However, it rounded out the flavor of these ginger pear cupcakes with miso caramel glaze so well that I'm listing it as a required ingredient - not an optional topping.  My food stylist/photographer husband put the candied ginger in a little nest for aesthetics, but I'd recommend spreading it out so that you get a little piece of it in each bite for the optimal eating experience.  That way, each mouthful will fill you with buttery yellow cake, fragrant and juicy pear, oozey sweet and salty caramel, and sharp, spicy ginger - cupcake nirvana.

Salted Caramel Recipe With a Secret Ingredient

This salted caramel recipe does not have salt as an ingredient.  Instead, the salted caramel recipe uses something salty - miso!  I got the idea for a salted caramel recipe using miso after making miso ice cream and having several people comment that it tasted like salted caramel.  I developed the salted caramel recipe on my own (I don't think that it has been done before), and couldn't have been more happy with the results.

I licked the spoon, I licked the spatula, I practically stuck my tongue in the pot, and my only regret after putting this salted caramel on my ginger pear cupcakes was that there wasn't a greater proportion of caramel to cupcake.  The miso salted caramel is more than just salted caramel - it's salted caramel with depth (miso brings a flavor of its own beyond simply salt) and an Asian flair.  If I could reinvent history, this salted caramel recipe would be used to sweeten tea during tea ceremonies in ancient tea houses on lush Japanese mountains.

Miso Ice Cream

Ice cream that tastes like a cross between miso soup, soy sauce, and salted caramel can shock people.  You'll find that most will not want a super-sized waffle cone of miso ice cream.  Instead, miso ice cream is best served alongside another dessert.  A small dollop of miso ice cream would be a welcomed addition to a pear torte, an apple cobbler, or a plate of gingersnap cookies.  It could also be piled on top or on the side of your favorite Asian-inspired cupcake.

Broccoli Miso Soup - It's Not Just Miso Soup with Broccoli

When I think miso, I think of a thin broth - a perfunctory salty soup served pre-sushi with a few tofu cubes (little rafts) and a couple of button mushrooms (small people trying to get to the rafts).  I never think of miso as a seasoning.  Completely inspired by an apple cobbler in this month's Bon Appetit that has a miso streusel topping, I decided to try out some unconventional uses of miso.  In this post, I'll tell you about a broccoli soup seasoned with miso (it's soup with miso, but not miso soup).  Then, in a future post, I'll tell you about a miso ice cream. I'll round out the series with ginger pear cupcakes with miso salted caramel.