No Time to Blog: Pumpkin cupcakes

Happy Halloween, all!

This has been a very hard week, there was an unfortunate death in my fiance's family and something it has taught me is that one of the most important things in life is to make each other happy, and show each other how much we care before it's too late. Making other people happy and showing them you care can be a simple thing... obviously, I personally often turn to baking :) It happens to be something I am good at and enjoy, and it's a sweet way-- pun most definitely intended-- to share your love with someone or someones.

So, do me a favour today and hug your loved ones tight. Don't get too distracted by the Halloween stuff that you forget to tell each other how much you care.

On that note!

I knew I wanted to make a Halloween treat, but there are a few ways it can go. You can go cutesy (like Rice Krispies ghosts or sugar cookie witches' hats), or traditional (like caramel apples, or popcorn balls), but I wanted something a little bit more sophisticated.

I know I said last week that I love cinnamon... another thing I love is pumpkin. Pumpkin scones, pumpkin pancakes, and of course, pumpkin cupcakes! (Ironically, I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin pie, but if you put enough whipped cream on it I'll eat almost anything...)

I went looking for a good pumpkin cupcake recipe, and I began to discover they are ridiculously complicated. Some of them require an enormous list of different spices... and I'm sure they're delicious, but seriously, I was getting tired just reading the recipes!

I persevered, looked through my entire recipe stash, various books and online sites, and found a recipe that seemed to have the perfect amount of spice but was still fairly straightforward.

The recipe came with the typical topper for pumpkin cupcakes-- cream cheese frosting. That just didn't sit right with me either. For one thing I'd done a cream cheese frosting for you two weeks ago, and for another, who decided that pumpkin and cream cheese go together anyway? So I began searching again, this time for an appropriate buttercream with just a touch of spice itself.

I had a picture in my mind of what I wanted to make, but I felt like it was missing something. Then one day, these caught my attention...

They look like fairy tale pumpkins, sparkly and sweet. Exactly what I wanted for the piece de resistance on top of my cupcakes... adorable and attractive but still not cutesy.

I also found these, and it was love at first sight:

Black, ruffly cupcake liners, so perfect for Halloween-- they look like Goth tutus... I love!!

So, with the bottom layer (liners) and the top layer (candy pumpkins) in hand, we gather the rest of our ingredients.

You'll need:

1-1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup (packed) canned pumpkin puree

You know the drill-- set oven to 350 and line your cupcake pan. I'm going for the full-size guys this time...

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, spices and salt.

Set aside. In another bowl, add the butter and sugar, and beat on high until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well in between.

Beat in the vanilla extract, then scrape down the sides of the bowl.

With your beaters on low speed, alternate adding the flour and pumpkin in batches, starting and ending with the flour.

Doesn't the batter turn a gorgeous colour? And it smells amazing, I love fall spices. If it seems to separate a bit when you add the first batch of pumpkin, don't worry-- the flour brings it all together again.

Once thoroughly mixed, spoon into your liners. This recipe makes only 12 full-size cupcakes or 24 minis, so you might want to double it if you're making these for a party.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until they pass the toothpick test. (Insert a toothpick into the middle of a cupcake, if it comes out clean, they are done.)

In the meantime, start your buttercream. You need:

1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 cup DARK brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp half and half

Add the butter and shortening to a bowl and cream together until fluffy. Then, add the brown sugar.

Isn't this stuff great? It's sparkly, and smells like molasses. Just beautiful.

Add the cinnamon as well, and beat until well combined.

Alternate adding the powdered sugar and half and half, beating well in between. Once completely beaten in, turn your beater up and beat a few minutes more, until the buttercream is stiff.

I used a large star tip to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.