Sunday - October 24, 2010

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

One of the things that I miss most about living up North is the fall; the change of seasons, the falling of leaves, and the crisp air, which creates favorable conditions for warm Starbuck’s beverages. I’m so sick of drinking iced coffees already. I want to be able to order a delicious steamy cappuccino and not worry about the hot flashes I may endure while drinking it! But it’s the end of October and no such luck in Miami yet…sadly 80 degrees is about as “crisp” as it has gotten here. So in an effort to convince myself that it is actually fall, despite the weather, I decided to make some pumpkin spice cupcakes tonight!! I really wanted to make a pumpkin pie, but cupcakes seemed easier to pass out to friends and with Halloween right around the corner….yeah, I’m not trying to eat an entire batch of 24 cupcakes alone one week before parading around the streets of Key West half-naked for Fantasy Fest!! So cupcakes it was!

I got the recipe for the pumpkin spice cake batter from Martha Stewart. I have found that all of her cupcake recipes are very good, but instead of using the vanilla frosting she suggested, I decided to pair my cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting. This is my absolute favorite recipe for cream cheese icing and it’s particularly delicious on top of red velvet cupcakes and coconut cupcakes (there is a recipe for these under desserts!).

Anyways, the cupcakes turned out delicious!! The pumpkin puree kept them super moist and the freshly ground ginger gave off a great flavor. I actually kept some without frosting so that I could eat them in the morning like a muffin! But the cream cheese frosting did turn out to be a great combination with the cake and everyone loved them! I will be making these again for sure. It made about 24 cupcakes total and the frosting recipe below makes enough to generously ice this many cupcakes.

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted, and cooled
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree

Cupcake Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, kosher salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

In a separate mixing bowl (the bowl of an electric mixer if you have one) combine the eggs, butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. On a low speed, mix until well combined and smooth. Then add the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Then whisk in the pumpkin puree until well combined.

Line the cupcake pan with liners and fill each cup about ¾ the way full with batter. (TIP: Use an ice cream scooper to distribute the batter neatly and uniformly!) Place the pans into the oven and allow to bake for 20-25 min, or until a toothpick comes out clean. (TIP: I like to rotate the pans 10 min through baking process to ensure even cooking)

Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely in pans before removing and then icing.

Frosting Ingredients:

• 1 8 oz package of cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
• ¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• ¾ pound of confectioners’ sugar

Frosting Directions:

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and almond extracts. Lower the speed and gradually add the confectioner’s sugar, mixing until smooth.