Pumpkin Cupcakes: Reminiscing Fall (Guest Post)

Hello everyone!

Another guest post coming your way today–today’s is a foodie one! Been TOO long since i’ve posted anything food/health related, so i’m so glad Janice here, sent this awesome guest post in!

Let’s get started!

The air begins to freshen up, the leaves begin to brown, fall has arrived. Fall is associated with many things, but nothing is more descriptive of fall than pumpkin everything. Now as a newbie baker my options are limited and the only recipe my dear husband knows is his mother’s famous Pumpkin Roll cake. Now even though that particular one is not my favorite, it is not an easy piece to make either. So the search for a great recipe that would please the both of us began.

Endless pinning later I found one that was just perfect, it brought the promise of delicious cake and fluffy cream cheese frosting. And thus the search for ingredients began. To most this part would not be so much of a hassle, but as a busy medical student, finding the time to go grocery shopping can be limited. I had almost everything, except ground ginger. Man, who would think finding ground ginger could be an issue? Certainly not me, but I was clearly proven wrong.

Before you go ask yourself if I live in the middle of nowhere, no, that is not the case, but if you follow the news you would remember El Faro cargo ship that sank in the middle of Hurricane Joaquin. That particular ship brought cargo to the island and since the crash a lot of products were missing from the shelves at stores. To my imagination, my struggle to find ground ginger had to do with that. Leaving that aside After a lot of searching I finally found the ginger and I was ready to do my cupcakes!

Doing those cupcakes was such an adventure for me. Many of the ingredients I had never worked with before but I had a blast. I turned on Netflix on cupcake wars and I was ready to begin. Whenever I put on the show I transform myself and I like to believe I am a pro baker and I could be on the show someday. Adding ingredient after ingredient created this beautiful and delicious aroma of spicy cake. loved the mixed scents of nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger filling every corner of my apartment.

After the batter was propped into the oven it was time to star the best part of all. The sweet delicious cream cheese frosting that I was going to do for the first time. Now I followed the recipe but I did not entirely like the end consistency of the frosting, as it was not fluffy enough to pipe properly and easily. So if you are trying this recipe I would suggest maybe using another recipe or trying to modify it a little. If I do it again I could update on the results.

Finally, they were done and cooled down and it was time to pipe and decorate. I was so excited for this part. I love piping cupcakes and using my minimal creative abilities to make them cute and enticing. I sprinkled some colored sugar on top and voila, they are ready to eat.

To comment on the final cupcake, we loved how they came out. The cake is nice and fluffy with yummy spicy flavors yet it has the right packing of ingredients. The frosting although not easy to pipe, was absolutely delicious and balanced between the cream cheese and the sugar, and the combination is a magical moment entering your mouth.

Now to the good part, the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 large eggs
3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp canned pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger for 20 seconds, set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, whisk together granulated sugar with brown sugar until no lumps remain. Add canola oil, set mixer with paddle attachment (one that scrapes the bowl is preferred otherwise stop and scrape bowl occasionally throughout entire mixing process) and blend mixture on medium speed until well combined. Mix in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in pumpkin and vanilla. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in flour mixture and mix until combined, then stop mixer and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl and fold batter to ensure it is well blended.
3. Divide batter among 12 paper lined muffins cups, filling each about 3/4 full and adding a heaping 1/4 cup batter to each well. Bake in preheated oven 20 – 24 minutes until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cool in muffin tin several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
4. For the cream cheese frosting:
5. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together cream cheese and butter until smooth and fluffy. Mix in vanilla and powdered sugar and whip until light and fluffy (at this point I recommend freezing or chilling frosting in refrigerator for a bit, returning to mixer and stirring occasionally, for a more stable consistency). Pipe or spread frosting over cupcakes then store in refrigerator in an airtight container. Bring nearly to room temp before serving.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and love it as much as me and my friends did. It is fast, easy, and delicious and worth making at any time of the year, but especially if you love fall.

The recipe I pinned is right here.

About Jani:

Hey all, I am Jani and I am a 23-year-old medical student with a passion for fashion, beauty and baking. At the end of 2015 I decided to begin my journey as a blogger and serve as inspiration for other medical and professional students and women who struggle to find balance. Many years ago I was a model and I developed a love for all things makeup and fashion and in my career I have always gotten compliments for those things. Recently I began baking as a way to relax in my busy life and it has become something I love and that defines me among my peers and friends. For these reasons I decided to combine all of these and begin a blog to serve as my break space from studying 24/7. If you like any of those thing I believe you will enjoy my blog and so much more.

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Thanks so much for this wonderful post Jani!

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Until next time, XOXO