Moist Pumpkin Spiced Cupcakes

My kids love my Pumpkin Praline Torte Cake; however it is very time consuming and I make it only a couple times a year. As a back up, make these EASY, delicious cupcakes and you get a deeper level of the spice and they stay moist for days. The cream cheese frosting is heavenly and I like to make my a little stiffer for piping perfection.

Take time to decorate the tops with pumpkin candies, candy corn, peanuts or ground cinnamon.

Most of all, when I make cupcakes I like to have FUN!

Want to know a secret? I used left over frosting and added them to my soft pumpkin cookies. Oh. My. Gosh. Heaven!

Ingredients:

Cake

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (stir flour, spoon it in the cup and level with a knife)

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice*

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 2 large eggs

• 3/4 cup packed light or dark brown sugar

• 1 cup canned pure pumpkin puree

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, plus an extra 1/4 cup if needed

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.

2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice together in a large bowl. Set aside.

3. Whisk the oil, eggs, brown sugar, pumpkin, and vanilla extract together until combined.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and use a mixer or whisk until completely combined. Batter will be thick.

5. Pour/spoon the batter into the liners – fill only 2/3 full to avoid spilling over the sides.

6. Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.

7. In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on high speed until smooth and creamy.

8. Add 3 confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then switch to high speed and beat for 2 minutes. 

9. If you want the frosting a little thicker (like me), add up to the extra 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar until you have the consistency you like.

10. Frost cooled cupcakes. I typically a frosting pipe but you can use a Ziploc bag snipping the corner if you would like.

11. Store leftover frosting in the refrigerator for up to 5 days (or make my pumpkin cookies).

Quick Tips & Tricks

• Make Cupcakes ahead - 1 day in advance, cover, and store at room temperature. Frosting can also be made 1 day in advance, covered, and stored in the refrigerator until ready to use. Leftover cupcakes keep well covered tightly in the refrigerator for 3 days. Frosted or unfrosted cupcakes can be frozen up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

• Pumpkin Pie Spice - Instead of prepared pumpkin pie spice, you can use 1/2 teaspoon each: ground allspice and ground ginger AND 1/4 teaspoon each: ground nutmeg and ground cloves.

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