a whisk and a spoon

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Some days I do not know what the heck I’m doing.  I put toothpaste on my Clarisonic.  I almost forget the pumpkin in my pumpkin cupcakes.  Luckily, I usually realize something’s amiss before it’s too late, so both my face and my cupcakes wound up alright…this time.

Speaking of forgetting the pumpkin, I once had a British guy point out to me that all this “American baked pumpkin stuff” just tastes like spices, so why bother with the pumpkin at all?  I’d never really thought about that before, and I guess he was almost right about the taste, but I certainly do think there’s reason to bother.  Not only does pumpkin puree make quickbreads and cakes nice and moist, (and orange, of course), but I think that pumpkin has a bit of earthiness to it, keeping them from being just sweet spice cakes.  Also squash makes cupcakes healthier??  Maybe I’m kidding myself there.  I do happen to love the fall spices, though, and these cupcakes have just the right amount.  And what do I need to say about cream cheese frosting, except for “yes please”?

These are a great treat anytime in the cooler weather, but add a few black and orange sprinkles and they turn into Halloween cupcakes.  Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Cupcakes- makes 18-20 cupcakes
from Leite’s Culinaria, but seen all over the interwebs in both cupcake and layer cake form

Steph’s Note:  Don’t need that many cupcakes?  Make a half-batch to get 9-10, and halve the frosting as well.

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pans
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with 1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin

-Preheat the oven to 350° (180°C) and prepare your cupcake tins with paper liners.

-In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper into a medium bowl.

-Add the eggs to the mixer, one at a time, scraping down the sides after each addition.  Alternate adding the flour and buttermilk mixtures, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat in the pumpkin until smooth. Divide the batter equally between the lined cups–they should be about 3/4 full.

-Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 18 to 24 minutes. Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 10 minutes.  Remove them from the tins and onto a rack to cool completely before frosting.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
by me

Steph’s Note:  You can see from my photo that this frosting is soft…the kind to spoon on instead of pipe.  Using a small amount of natural maple flavor instead the larger amount of maple syrup helps, as does preparing the frosting while the cupcakes are baking and then refrigerating it until the cakes are cool.  Cutting back on the powdered sugar (oddly) also helps stiffen up a cream cheese frosting if that’s what you prefer..

1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese (full-fat or reduced-fat Neufchâtel), at cool room temperature
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/4 cup of maple syrup or 1 tsp natural maple flavor
pinch of salt

-In a food processor, zip the confectioner’s sugar first to break up any lumps.  Add the other ingredients and process until smooth, scraping as needed.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes before using.

Devil’s Food Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I needed a little weekend baking project to help take my mind off the Frankenstorm that’s coming our way.  Spooky.  It’s time for Halloween cupcakes anyway…I make them every year, mostly to use my orange and black sprinkles.  I think devil’s food is appropriate for Halloween, and it helps that it’s my favorite species of chocolate cake.  I have a particular fondness for oil-based devil’s food like this one from Zoë Bakes.  So moist, oh my gosh.  And isn’t cream cheese frosting good on just about any cake?  Looking forward to eating one of these from the fridge tonight.

Happy Halloween, and stay safe (and dry)!

Devil’s Food Cupcakes- makes 3 dozen
from Zoë Bakes

Steph’s Note:  I made one-third of the cupcake recipe below to get one dozen cupcakes, but I still used the full amount of frosting.

3 cups granulated sugar
2 3/4 cups  all-purpose flour
1 1/8 cups cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-processed), sifted if lumpy.
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk or buttermilk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup hot coffee
1/4 cup rum or brandy (or replace with extra coffee)

–Heat the oven to 350°F and prepare 3 dozen muffin tins with papers

-Combine all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and whisk until combined, set aside.

-Whisk together, eggs, milk, oil and vanilla until well combined. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Slowly add the hot coffee and rum to the batter and whisk until totally blended and smooth, about 2 minutes. The batter will be quite runny.

-Fill a measuring cup or pitcher (you can fill directly from the mixing bowl if you have a steady hand) with the batter and then fill the muffin cups about 2/3 – 3/4 full.

-Bake the cupcakes for about 18-20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

-Allow to cool completely on a cake rack, removing the cupcakes from the tin after about 15 minutes, and then frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
from Zoë Bakes

Steph’s Note:  I used the full amount of frosting to decorate 12 cupcakes.

1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon golden syrup (can substitute with honey)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt

-Combine all the ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and cream together until smooth.  (I used a hand mixer for this.)

Sour Cream Cupcakes

Yes, Halloween is all about candy, and I’m psyching myself up to sit on my stoop for hours tomorrow passing out Milky Ways and M&M’S to the neighborhood zombies and trolls.  (Unless I am bitten by a vampire, I plan to hoard the Reese’s Cups for myself, btw.)  Every year, though, I force myself to make Halloween cupcakes in an effort to use up my ghost cupcake liners and my orange and black sprinkles. I think I have one year left on the liners, but probably ten on the sprinkles…maybe I should “accidentally” spill them!

I only just now realized that you can’t really even see the actual cupcake in this photo…my bad…but they look, you know, like cupcakes.  I’ve made this recipe a couple of times now because it real flavor from the sour cream and vanilla.  Also, they are soft and moist, but they’re sturdy…they don’t have a messy, fall-to-pieces-when-you-bite-them crumb.  I think they’d make perfect birthday cupcakes.  When I make cupcakes, I often use them as an excuse to clear out the bits and pieces from the fridge, and the frosting here is just a little leftover dark chocolate ganache.

I’m kepping this short and sweet because a car alarm has been going off outside my window for the past fifteen minutes. Ahh, city living…I can hardly hear myself think.  Happy Halloween!

Sour Cream Cupcakes- makes about 18
from a recipe by Anne Burrell

Steph’s Note:  The original recipe claims this makes 12 cupcakes…maybe that’s for a jumbo tin(?), because it really yields about 18 standard size cupcakes.  Here, I made a 1/3 recipe and got six.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup sour cream

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a muffin tin with paper cups.

-Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

-In the bowl of a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until they are light and fluffy.  Turn the mixer off and scrape down the sides of the bowl.

-Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Slowly add the vanilla, milk and sour cream.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl, as needed.  With the mixer on medium speed, gradually mix in the flour.

-Fill the prepared muffin cups about 2/3 of the way, dividing the batter evenly among the lined cups.

-Put in the preheated oven and bake for about 20-22 minutes.  Rotate the tin about halfway through.

-The cupcakes are done when a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of a cake.  Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack, then frost and decorate.