Pumpkin Cupcakes

We're back!!!!!!

So we took the 'summer' off, we just had sooo much to do, what with all the sunshine and all...And seeing as Halloween is my favourite festivity (Pancake Tuesday coming a close second) what better time of year to start baking again. Over the last 8 years I have baked something with pumpkin for my (un)lucky housemates. It started off with pumpkin pie which the girls described as "like eating a vegetable pie that kinda tasted desserty". Bottom line they hated it. So the next year, I thought it couldn't have tasted that bad and I made it again...this time they refused to eat it. Back to the drawing board. In the following years, I experimented with cookies decorating them with writing icing(not great) and pumpkin cake (like carrot cake with pumpkin in it, not bad actually), but this year I think I have finally cracked it...Pumpkin Cupcakes...bleedin' delish :-)

The most labourious part of this recipe is preparing the pumpkin. You can buy puréed pumpkin but by the time you have driven around the country to find it, you will have roasted your own pumpkin, peeled it, mashed it, sieved it and left the water to drain off it!

                     

Ingredients(makes 12)
110g unsalted butter, room temperature               
240g soft light brown sugar
120g plain flour                                             
125g self-raising flour
100g puréed pumpkin
2 large eggs                  
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon                      
1/2 tsp ground ginger                                         
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
120mls milk mixed with 1tsp lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 160degrees celsius

With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is pale and smooth. Add the eggs one at a time and the vanilla extract, beat well after each addition. Add the pumpkin and beat until just combined. The mixture may curdle if the pumpkin is straight out of the fridge but don't worry it will still make delicious cupcakes. 

Combine the flours, cinnamon and ginger and sieve into a bowl. Add one-third of the flours to the creamed mixture and beat until just combined. Add half of the milk/lemon and beat again until just combined. Repeat until all the flour and milk/lemon have been added.

Spoon into the cupcake cases filling them to two-thirds full. Bake for 25mins until slightly raised and golden brown. 

Once they are completely cooled, ice them with cinnamon cream cheese icing. 

Cinnamon cream cheese icing: 175g cream cheese, 450g icing sugar(sieved), 125g unsalted butter(room temperature), 1/4tsp ground cinnamon, pinch of ground cloves

Mix all the ingredients together and beat well until thoroughly combined and the icing is smooth and pale.

 HAPPY HALLOWEEN