Pumpkin Cupcakes

I sent these in last week for a preschool Halloween party, without tasting them, and was surprised at the report that the kids did more than just lick off the frosting. I also had a request for the recipe, but I hadn’t been careful in noticing my measurements, so I made them again for Sunday dinner dessert.

I’m not much of a cake lover, but these were good. They are moist and light and fluffy enough to just miss crossing over into being a muffin, and have enough flavor that you could potentially enjoy the bites without frosting.

These would go well with a cream cheese frosting frosting. For the Halloween party, I used a marshmallow buttercream that was a hit.

Pumpkin Cupcakes
Adapted from the Joy of Baking.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose or cake flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup canned pumpkin (or about half of a 15 oz. can)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt) in a medium mixing bowl (for cakes, I actually do this step because you alternate adding dry and wet stuff into the batter at the end).
3. In your mixer bowl, blend together the butter and sugars. Whip them up real good. Add in your eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, and then the vanilla. Mix until well blended.
4. Alternate adding in 1/3rd of the flour mixture and 1/2 of the pumpkin mixture, while mixing and scraping down the bowl occasionally, until it’s all mixed together nicely, without over mixing.
5. Line 12 cupcake pans with paper liners or cooking spray and evenly fill the cups with the batter.
6. Bake at 350 degrees until a toothpick testing the center of one of the cupcakes comes out dry. It’s about 20 minutes in my oven. Test around 17 minutes if they look set up, and every 2 minutes after that. When they are done, move the cupcakes to a wire rack to completely cool before frosting.