Wednesday, October 26, 2011

The Only Thing Better than Pumpkins is Pumpkin Cupcakes!

For the first time, I baked pumpkin spice cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

There are so many things I love about the fall-- hot chocolate, snuggling under the covers, boots, holidays, the the smell of cider and pumpkins ... I could go on and on. One of my favorite fall pastimes, one that I am sadly not taking part in at the moment (see 17 Day Diet blog post), are the sweets. From thick-crusted pies to Christmas sugar cookies and everything in between, this season just isn't the same without these cavity-inducing, body-bloating bits of sugary goodness. And I decided that just because I'm not indulging at the moment doesn't mean I shouldn't spread the joy of seasonal sweets to those around me. Plus, I'm pretty much down for any excuse to bake cupcakes.

This particular recipe has been very well received by everyone I pawned my cupcakes off on so I wouldn't eat them myself, so I thought I would share! I mix-matched two recipes I found at allrecipes.com (that's enough to call it my own, right? .. okay fine. I stole it. Sue me.) They came out perfectly moist and fluffy, so I at least take a little credit for that part (Lesson number 1 of cupcake baking: Burning them is never good).

If you're in the mood to bake, get ready to Apron Up! I'm trying to coin "Apron Up". It's like Suit Up, or Saddle Up. Cute right?

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes:

4 eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1 (15 oz) can of pumpkin
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup corn starch
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I think the next time I make it I will use 5 teaspoons to punch up the flavor even more)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend together eggs, oil, sugar, and pumpkin. In a separate bowl mix together flour, corn starch, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add dry mixture in to wet ingredients and blend until smooth. Fill a cupcake pan with cupcake liners (bonus points if you have cute fall-themed liners), and fill each to about 2/3 full (sometimes I push it and go to 3/4 full because I like my cupcakes to have junk in the trunk). Bake for 25 minutes.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
3 cups confectioners sugar (if you like a frosting that's less sweet, I would recommend 2 or 2 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I put more like 2 teaspoons and it was fabulously cinnamon, but 1 teaspoon is good too)

Beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add in the confectioners sugar a little at a time, and finally add in the vanilla and cinnamon.

WARNING: Frosting is highly addictive, and nibbling while baking will likely occur.

Here are mine:

My pumpkins look like basketballs.. but I decided not to care because I was running late.


And there you have it! It's a pretty simple recipe, and SUPER delicious. Plus thematically they last all the way through Thanksgiving, so get baking kids!

1 comment:

  1. HI KAYTEE,

    Those cupcakes look delicious. I can just imagine how good your Red Velvet Cake Cupcakes must be. You certainly have mastered the art of baking. You always make everything look great.

    STEVE

    ReplyDelete