Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Usually for Thanksgiving I’ll make a pumpkin pie. They’re easy and delicious! But this year I got a request for something different, so I went with these cupcakes. There’s pumpkin in the cupcake and pumpkin in the frosting so we definitely got our pumpkin fix. And honestly, they’re just delicious.

I’m more of a cake person than a pie person anyway, so these really worked for me.

Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

Cupcakes

¾ cup butter, softened to room temperature
2 cups sugar
½ cup brown sugar
3 eggs, brought to room temperature
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
2 t vanilla
2 ¼ cups flour
2 ½ t cinnamon
1 t baking powder
1 t allspice
1 t nutmeg
½ t salt
½ t baking soda
1 cup buttermilk

Frosting

1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
½ cup pumpkin puree
2 t vanilla
½ t cinnamon
½ t allspice
¼ t nutmeg
Pinch of salt
4 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 T cornstarch*
Additional nutmeg**

if needed – see instructions
not required – see instructions

Directions

In a large bowl, mix together the butter and sugars until smooth – figure a few minutes. Add in the eggs and mix until well combined. Next, add in the pumpkin and vanilla and again mix until well combined.

In a medium bowl whisk together your flour, cinnamon, baking powder, allspice, nutmeg, salt and baking soda until they are well combined.

Add half of your dry mix to the bowl and mix until just combined. Next, add half the buttermilk and mix until just combined. Do the same again – add second half dry and mix, second half buttermilk and mix. Don’t overmix or your cupcakes risk getting denser than you’d probably like. Just mix until it looks like everything is combined, then stop.

Put cupcake liners into a cupcake tin (you’ll want to do 2 dozen) and fill each liner about ¾ full with batter. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the tops are a nice golden brown. Take the trays out of the oven and let the cupcakes cool in the trays for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

On to the frosting! Hopefully it goes without saying but don’t frost the cupcakes until they’re completely cooled, otherwise the frosting will just slide off them and no one wants that.

In a large bowl mix the butter and pumpkin until well combined. Next, add in the vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and salt and again mix until well combined.

Get your powdered sugar and slowly add it to your mixture until it’s really well combined.

Here’s where the cornstarch (and a little experimenting) comes in. Check the consistency. If it’s too soft, add the cornstarch and mix again until it’s well combined and it should get it to a consistency you can work with.

Next, taste! You’ve added a bunch of spices here – see if the taste is to your liking. Now is the time where, if you like, you can add a little more cinnamon, a little more nutmeg, whatever you like.

Once your frosting is done, fill a piping bag and pipe onto your cupcakes. If you’re not comfortable with a piping bag, don’t have one or frankly just don’t want to you can just frost your cupcakes with a knife.