Not to be cheesy...

But I've always said, if I wasn't a baker I would be a cheese connoisseur.

I LOVE cheese.  Cheddar, Manchago, Swiss, Bleu, Brie, Feta...

You name it, I love it.

A newer cheese to me in recent years has been goat cheese.  I first had it in New York City three years ago at a nice steak house in which I opted to have a salad.  Fresh greens, apple slices and a tangy vinaigrette were all second to the goat cheese crostini that accompanied it.  I was hooked.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I only had Goat Cheese as a savory dish.  And when I was introuduced to the idea of Goat Cheese being sweet...a light bulb went off.

You see,  the bakery I work in is part of a series of teams.  There's meat, produce; all the typical sections you would find in your local grocery store.  But there is one section that stands above the rest...Specialty.  They are in charge of cheese, wine and chocolate.  Yeah, if I wasn't in bakery, I'd totally be in Specialty.

Bakery and Speciatly have a special bond.  We're always having them sample new things we get in, and in return they give us samples.  There is one lady who is always bringing me cheese samples, knowing my love for it, and one day she brought me something I had never heard of before...Cinnamon Goat Cheese.  It was amazing.  The tang of the goat cheese was quickly followed by the sweet spice of cinnamon.  I promptly bought some with no knowledge of how I was going to use it.

My husband usually works from home but now and then he ventures into the office.  When he does that I take the opportunity to use his co-workers as guinea pigs for new creations and I knew I wanted to use the goat cheese in some way.  I had some apples that needed to be used so I figured I would make my apple cupcakes.  Thinking back to how well the apples in the salad paired with the goat cheese on the crostini...I decided to be bold.  Apple Cake with Cinnamon Goat Cheese Frosting.

Well turns out the apples were bad.  So I went to plan B- Spice Cake with Cinnamon Goat Cheese Frosting.

I knew I wanted to pair the tang of the frosting with a cake that would have spice to cut through it.  Although now that I've tried it, I'm convinced plain goat cheese would work well with just about any cake.


The frosting came out creamy and suprisingly light.  In comparison to Cream Cheese Frosting it's not as dense and a little goes a long way.

I've posted the recipie below...give it a try and let me know what you think.  I think this is the start of a beautiful relatioinship between cheese and desserts.

Stay Sweet.

Cinnamon Goat Cheese Frosting
6 ounces of Mild Goat Cheese (or if you can find a cinnamon brand, use that and omit the extra cinnamon)
1 package (8oz) Cream Cheese
2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
1 Tsp. Cinnamon 
1-1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar*

1. Blend the softened cheeses and butter until well combined.
2. Slowly add in the powdered sugar  and cinnamon until completely mixed.
3. Frost on cooled cupcakes and enjoy! **

Frosts approx. 14 cupcakes or 1 9inch round cake.

*I don't like overly sweet frosting, so I use as little powdered sugar as possible.  If you like really sweet frosting, add more.
**I frosted the cupcakes and refrigerated them for about 30 minutes just to let the frosting set up a little more.  It will be softer than your average frosting.