Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes Recipe
Christy, Sinkology’s food-loving recipe blogger, is here to share some recipes she has created for the Sinkology blog that reflect our view of a copper sink: simple, timeless, affordable, and beautifully rustic.
October is the official pumpkin month and that means it’s the perfect time to make spiced pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. The play on words is important here as notice I said, “spiced pumpkin” not “pumpkin spice” (wink). Believe me, I know how over-saturated the market has become with everything pumpkin spice flavored. These cupcakes perfectly spiced with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg, which only enhance the pumpkin flavor, none of that fake artificial stuff. I assure you if you have to make anything spiced pumpkin or pumpkin spice, these cupcakes are a tasty choice. In fact, this recipe has been my go to recipe for pumpkin cupcakes for years and continues to be one of my top five favorite cupcake flavors. I love baking cupcakes but don’t always need 24. This time, I was happy to share them with my neighbors who love cupcakes as much as I do. This recipe can also easily be halved which I normally do.
Let’s begin by preheating the oven 350 degrees and line two 12-muffin pans since the recipe makes 24 cupcakes. If you don’t have two, then just wait until the first batch have baked to refill.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and salt. Ideally, they should be sifted together but I’m too lazy to do that. I find that whisking does the trick to incorporate everything. Set aside.
In a bowl of electric mixer (or bowl to use with a hand-mixer), add the pumpkin, both granulated and light brown sugars and canola oil. Beat on medium speed until combined. Add one egg at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add the flour mixture in two additions, beating on low speed after each addition. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl making sure everything is thoroughly incorporated.
Fill the cupcakes three-quarters full.
Bake until the cupcakes are golden and toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes. Remove the cupcakes and let cool completely on wire rack. (If you need to reuse the muffin pan, then repeat for the remaining batter.)
After the cupcakes have completely cooled, start on the finishing touch for the cupcakes, the cream cheese frosting.
In an electric mixing bowl, add one stick of room temperature butter, cold cream cheese, a splash of vanilla extract. (If you want the cream cheese frosting to be bright white, then I suggest using clear imitation vanilla extract. I have a huge bottle of homemade vanilla extract so I only use that.) Beat on medium-high speed until smooth and combined.
Add one cup of powdered sugar at a time, beating on low speed until combined. After three cups of powdered sugar have been added, increase the speed to medium-high and continue to beat until desired consistency, smooth, fluffy and creamy. You may add up to ½ cup extra powdered sugar if it is not stiff enough. The more powdered sugar that is added, the slightly less cream cheese taste there is. I like to chill my frosting for half hour before I frost my cupcakes to hold the shape better and not sacrifice the cream cheese flavor.
Frost each cupcake however you wish, with a knife or a piping bag fitted with a frosting tip of your choice. I like to use 16 inch piping bag fitted with Ateco 846 closed star tip. There are excellent tutorial videos how to pipe icing on cupcakes. It really is easy once you get the hang of it and makes all the difference in the cupcake presentation.
- 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp. nutmeg (ground or freshly grated)
- ½ tsp. ginger
- ¼ tsp. ground cloves
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 can (15oz.) solid packed pumpkin
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup canola oil
- 4 eggs
- 4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 8 oz. cream cheese, cold
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3 – 3 ½ cups powdered sugar
- To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, ground cloves, and salt till incorporated. Set aside.
- In a bowl of electric mixer, add pumpkin, both granulated and light brown sugars, and canola oil. Beat on medium speed until combined. Add one egg at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Add the flour mixture in two additions, beating on low speed after each addition.
- Fill the cupcake liners about three-quarters full.
- Bake until the cupcakes are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.
- Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
- In a bowl of electric mixture, beat softened butter, cream cheese and vanilla extract on med-high speed until smooth and combined.
- Add powdered sugar in three additions, beating on low until combined. After all the powdered sugar has been added, beat on high until desired consistency. Add ¼-1/2 cup extra powdered sugar if desired for stiffer frosting.