Pumpkin Cupcakes

I love the flavors that fall brings. Like many others, pumpkin is one of the fall flavors that I adore. I have been meaning to make pumpkin cupcakes for some time now, but I never got the chance. I was looking through recipes and was stuck between two. I visited The Way the Cookie Crumbles and low and behold, there was a pumpkin cupcake comparison. I decided to go with the recommended recipe from David Leite. I baked these for a friend of ours who recently celebrated her birthday. She is going through a rough time right now and she was in need of a pick-me up. She was surprised and loved them! These cupcakes had a light, moist crumb and a mild pumpkin spice flavor that was perfectly complemented by the tangy cream cheese icing.

Pumpkin Cupcakes
Source: Adapted from The Way the Cookie Crumbles

1 stick butter (room temperature)
1 cup packed 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
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 and 1/4 cups canned pure pumpkin


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 18 cupcake liners.

In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy for about 5 minutes.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper into a medium bowl and set aside. Add the vanilla to the milk and set aside.

Add the eggs one at a time to the butter and sugar mixture and mix on medium speed, scraping down the sides after each addition.

Turn the mixer on low and alternatively add the flour mixture and milk, ending with the flour. Beat in the pumpkin until smooth.

Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full and rap the filled pans to release air bubbles.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes. Cool cupcakes completely on wire racks.

What's Baking: October's Fall Flavors Round-Up

This month I challenged my What's Baking group to bake with fall flavors. I took the challenge a step further by asking everyone to get creative and try to choose a flavor other than pumpkin or apple—even though they're my favorite flavors! Whatever flavor was chosen, I was drooling over this month's submissions! Next month, Jey of The Jey of Cooking is hosting and the theme is savory treats. She asks us to challenge ourselves and bake something savory!

I made Butternut Cake with Buttered Rum Icing



Jaida of Sweet Beginnings made Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Icing

Heather Lynne of Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks made Pumpkin and Sausage Pasta Bake

Jade of The Mess Pot made Sweet Potato Cupcakes
with Toasted Marshmallow Frosting

Jill of JBean Cuisine made Applesauce Cake

Lindsey of Our Share of the Harvest made Pecan Pie Bars

Dani of Cloud 8½ made Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Melissa of I Was Born to Cook made Sour Cream Pumpkin Streusel Cake

Lindsay of Peace, Love and French Fries made Pumpkin Coffee Cake

Jey of The Jey of Cooking made Caramel Appledoodles

Carrie of Carrie's Sweet Life made Sweet Potato Banana Muffins

Catherine of Pursuing Domestic Goddess-ness made Apple Coffee Cake Ring

Cara of The Boys Made Me Do It made Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze



Yudith from Blissfully Delicious made Olive Oil Pumpkin Bread

Stephanie from Brownies and Blondies made Mulled Wine Cupcakes



Ammie of Adventures in My Kitchen made Sweet Potato Bread

Halloween Cupcakes

While Halloween is not my favorite holiday, I love Halloween-themed stuff. I've had my eye on a few Halloween baked goods to make and finally decided on cupcakes (although this ghost cake is still on my mind). I narrowed down my decorating ideas to Frankenstein, Jack Skellington, and jack-o-lanterns. Had I more time or patience, I would have also done mummies, spiderwebs, and possibly tackled that ghost cake. There's always this weekend, right? The cupcake flavors were apple topped with cinnamon buttercream and butternut with buttered rum icing. I got the idea for the Frankenstein cupcakes here.

Cinnamon Buttercream 
2 sticks butter, room temperature
5 - 6 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 - 4 tablespoons water (as needed)

Cream the butter. Add vanilla and beat well. With the mixer on low, add powdered sugar one cup at a time and water one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Beat in cinnamon and beat until smooth and creamy.

Butternut Cake with Buttered Rum Icing

I love the fall. I love when the leaves change and swirl from the branches of the trees to the ground. I love fall flavors of apple and pumpkin. Some of my favorites are pumpkin-flavored coffee, ice cream, and beer. For this month's What's Baking theme, I chose Fall Flavors. I also asked everyone to get creative and try to bake with something other than pumpkins and apples. I chose butternut squash as my fall ingredient and made an anniversary cake for me and my husband since we're celebrating our fourth anniversary. I decorated the cake to look similar to our wedding cupcake cake. I loved the way this cake came out. It tasted as great as it looked. The cake was moist, buttery, and nutty and the sweet rum-spiked icing was a perfect topping. 

Butternut Squash Cake
adapted from Betty Crocker Big Book of Cupcakes

2 and 1/3 cups flour
2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter (room temperature)
1 and 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup butternut squash (cooked, mashed, and cooled)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I used chopped walnuts.)
1/2 cup craisins (I omitted.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 24 liners. (I made two six-inch cakes plus 9 cupcakes.)

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice and set aside. Add vanilla to milk and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter on high speed until smooth. Add sugar 1/4 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat butter and sugar an additional two minutes and then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in squash. With the mixer on low speed, alternatively add the flour mixture and milk, ending with the flour. Beat until combined. Stir in pecans and craisins (or walnuts).

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake 20 - 25 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to wire rack to cool.

Buttered Rum Icing
2 sticks butter, room temperature
5 - 6 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon rum
2 - 4 tablespoons water (as needed)

Cream the butter. Add vanilla and rum and beat well. With the mixer on low, add powdered sugar one cup at a time and water one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Beat until smooth and creamy.

Here's our cake from the big day:

Puppy Cake

I was asked to make a last minute cake for Manny's first mommy. I was told she likes sprinkles and dogs. I didn't have much to go on, but I was pleased at how well this cake came together. I didn't really have a plan, but as I decorated I found my stride. The cake is a confetti cake (white cake with tons of sprinkles) and it's topped with vanilla and chocolate buttercream. To pull the cake together, I piped tan dog bones and pink paws on the sides. Manny's first mommy was a huge fan and wouldn't even let anyone cut it for two days because it was so cute.

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

This month's What's Baking theme is "A Family Favorite." Besides pound cake, my family's favorite dessert is pumpkin cream pie. I've made it too many times to count and it's always requested at fall family gatherings. When my mom requested the pie for her birthday, I decided to come up with a new idea that takes the components of the pie instead. I came up with mini pumpkin cheesecakes. These little desserts were delicious and perfect for fall. The pumpkin and spices were perfect additions to the sweet cheesecake filling. They were delightful and made my mom's birthday a little sweeter.

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes
Source: Adapted from Sweetnicks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 foil liners.

For Crust:
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together and press mixture into the bottoms of 12 cupcake liners.


For Cheesecakes:
2 (8 oz.) packs cream cheese (room temperature)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin
1 and 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

Beat cream cheese for 1 minute on medium speed until fluffy.
Add sugar, vanilla, and eggs and mix on medium speed until well blended.
Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
Bake 15 - 20 minutes until set. (NOTE: The centers will be a little jiggly.)
Cool and top with fresh whipped cream.
Store in refrigerator.

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes

I have never been a huge fan of cheesecake. I was asked to make mini cherry cheesecakes recently and I was going to use a recipe in Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, but I read the recipe incorrectly and didn't have enough cream cheese. I searched the Internet and after reading a few recipes, I found one that didn't look too complicated. The only complaint with this recipe is that the centers sank after coming out of the oven. This wasn't a problem since I was filling them with cherry, so it worked out perfectly. I have to say these cuties were pretty addictive. The sour cherry pie filling was a great contrast to the sweet cheesecake and buttery crust. I enjoyed them so much that I'm already dreaming up variations.

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes
Source: Sweetnicks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 foil liners.

For Crust:
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar

Mix all ingredients together and press mixture into the bottoms of 12 cupcake liners.

For Cheesecakes:
2 (8 oz.) packs cream cheese (room temperature)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
Cherry pie filling

Beat cream cheese for 1 minute on medium speed until fluffy.
Add sugar, vanilla, and eggs and mix on medium speed until well blended.
Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
Bake 15 - 20 minutes until set. (NOTE: The centers will be a little jiggly.)
Cool and top with pie filling.
Store in refrigerator.