Good Eats: Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting!

I made these cupcakes because anything Pumpkin makes me feel cozy and warm inside during the Fall Season :) I had no idea how they were going to come out as this was my first time making them, but they were BEYOND a huge success...16 were consumed in less than 24 hours! haha (not by only me of course, imagine!) lets get started so you can enjoy too:

 

Ingredients:  (yields about 16 cupcakes)

1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (found in those little plastic jars in the spice aisle of your supermarket)
1 cup of All Purpose Flour
1/3 cup of Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
1 cup white granulated sugar (the regular kind we all have in our kitchen!
1/2 tsp of Vanilla Extract
1/4 tsp salt
3/4cup of Pure Pumpkin Puree (make sure its not pumpkin pie FILLING, there is a big difference!)
1 tsp of Baking Soda
1/2tsp of Baking Powder



Oven Temp : 350


1. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin puree, vanilla, sugar and vegetable oil. Add the dry ingredients and keep whisking together until everything is well mixed. 

2. Grab your pre-lined cupcake tin and get your ice cream scooper out (these are also sold as cookie scoopers) and begin to scoop the cupcake batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 2/3 of the way up. 

3.Bake for about 20 mins, or until you stick a toothpick of small knife (which is what I had to do here!) can easily be inserted into the center of each cupcake and come out clean! This means they are done and ready for cooling. 

4. Take the cupcakes out of the tray and allow them to cool before frosting. 

Cream Cheese Frosting...homemade!

Ingredients: 

2 Tbsp. Milk

4 oz of Cream Cheese, at room temperature

4 Cups of Confectioners Sugar

2 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
½ tsp of Vanilla Extract

1. In a large bowl you are going to want to whisk everything together EXCEPT the milk. Make sure everything is thoroughly mixed together with no lumps and bumps. I find that adding the confectioners sugar a cup at a time really helps this all come together smoothly :)

2. Lastly, add the milk and mix together again, just until everything is combined. Cover this frosting mixture with plastic wrap and set aside, I set mine in the fridge just because its a habit of mine haha but you don't have to--outside the fridge will work just as well.You are going to want to leave it be for about 45 mins.  

3.You are now ready to frost your cupcakes! For this, I use the back of a teaspoon, I find that it makes spreading and smoothing out the frosting onto the cupcake SUPER easy.  Also note that in the picture above you can see that I haven't mounded on the frosting, unless you are a frosting fanatic, I think that a little frosting really adds just the "icing on the cupcake" haha You don't want the icing to overpower the delicious pumpkin spice flavors that you have in the actual cake part. Cloves, Nutmeg, Cinnamon etc, those flavors will come through beautifully if you trust me on this! :)

There you have it--I hope if you are reading this that your mouth is watering and you're thinking of when you're going to whip these babies up, just posting this made me want to make another batch! Enjoy! 

Pumpkins and Cream Cheese, 

xox