#58 Vanilla Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

Hope everyone had an awesome Halloween! With the help of my little buddy Dracula we made these dreadfully tasty cupcakes. These little guys have 3 parts to them the pumpkin pie frosting, the vanilla cake and last but not least the graham cracker crust. My favorite part would have to be the crust but the frosting came in as a very close second for sure! The frosting is actually just pumpkin pie and you can either use store bought or make your own. I made this frosting last year for my Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes but this time instead of using the Libby's recipe I went with the one from the Une-Deux Senses blog and the link to that is below :)

Vanilla Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes (Courtesy of Une-Deux Senses)
I found it easiest to make the cake batter first then the crust :)

The Goods
1 3/4cups sifted cake flour (I accidentally used regular flour and they came out just fine)

1 cup sugar

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temp.

1/2 cup milk room temp, divide

2 lg eggs room temp

1 lg egg white room temp

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

The How To

Preheat oven to 350degrees. In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

Add the butter and 1/4 cup of milk. Mix on medium speed until smooth, about 4mins.

Yes it's going to look a lot like cookie dough but don't toss it out!!

  In another large bowl whisk together the eggs, egg white, vanilla, and the remaining milk. Add this mixture in 3 additions, mixing 2mins on med. speed after each addition. Then set aside for later.

Looks like perfectly good batter!!

 Now for the Graham Cracker Crust!!

The Goods

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

The How To

Combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter in a medium bowl and mix well.

Add about a tablespoon of the mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner and bake for 5minutes until the graham crackers are golden.



A juice glass is the peftect size for smushing the crust down.

Remove from the oven then fill about 1/2 full with the cake batter. Bake for 15-18mins rotating halfway through the bake time. Let them cool completely before frosting. 

Now grab your pumpkin pie and (gently) toss it in a piping bag and frost away!!!

The perfect combo of cake and pie!!!

Up Next...

Carmel Apple Cupcakes

#57 Pumpkin-Brown Butter Cupcakes

MMMM the smell of brown butter has filled the house right now! What a tasty pick by My Cupcake Journey for the MSC monthly bake. Right off the bat I decided to go with a frosting instead of the glaze. I'm just a frosting type of girl ;) Now this frosting wasn't good... It was delicious! I've never made brown butter before but after I mixed all the ingredients together, I would have to say that the frosting had almost a maple syrup taste. Now to the cupcake. It has the perfect amount of spice and surprisingly with the batter being on the thick side the cake was not dense but actually light and fluffy. This is the perfect pick to start off the fall baking season!

Pumpkin-Brown Butter Cupcakes (courtesy of Martha Stewart)
The Goods
1 1/2 sticks of butter room temp
1 2/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon  ground cloves
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 lg eggs room temp


The How To
Preheat oven to 325. In a sauce pan melt the butter over medium-low heat and swirl the pan occasionally until the butter turns a golden brown. Remove from the heat and skim the foam off the top. Pour browned butter into a bowl to stop the cooking, leaving any burned sediment behind; let cool.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves then set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the pumpkin puree, both sugars, eggs, and brown butter.

Add flour mixture and whisks until just combined.

 Divide batter evenly among cups, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake rotating tins halfway through the 20 bake time. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before frosting.

Brown Butter Frosting (courtesy of Good House Keeping)
The Goods
1 stick of butter room temp.
2 1/2 cups powder sugar
1/4cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

The How To
Brown the butter as shown above. Let this cool for at least 30mins. After butter has reached room temp, combine the sugar, milk and vanilla and mix on medium speed unitl smooth.

Now frost and enjoy!!

Up Next...
Vanilla Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

#20 Marshmallow Turkey Cupcakes

Well it's that time again to create another cupcake masterpiece for the ms cupcake club and this month was the oh so cute marshmallow turkey. At first I was a little skeptical, I saw that it needed the Swiss meringue buttercream and I cringed a little. Since my disaster with the 7 min. frosting last month I was expecting another flop, but to my surprise it was extremely easy and very tasty too. It reminded me of marshmallow fluff, but without the sticky mess. The hardest item to find for these were the coconut marshmallows, which after endless searching were finally located at Walmart. So here's my take on Martha's turkeys.

Chocolate Cupcakes (pg. 152 in MS cupcake book)
This was the first time I've actually used buttermilk usually I substituted sour cream for it, but I think the buttermilk really makes a difference. They were very moist.

The Goods
1 1/2cups flour
3/4cup unsweetened dutch-process coca powder
1 1/2cups sugar
1 1/2teaspoons baking soda
3/4teaspoon baking powder
3/4teaspoon salt
2lg eggs
3/4cup buttermilk
3tablespoons veg. oil
1teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4cup warm water

The How To
Preheat oven to 350degrees. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

I got all the ingredients together and pre-sifted before I put it in the mixer

Reduce speed to low. Add eggs. buttermilk, oil, extract, and water; beat until smooth and combined.

FYI this is not a super thick batter

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about two-thirds full.

Bake, rotating halfway through, until a tooth pick inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20mins. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10ins; remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely.

Look at that dome action!!!

After the cupcakes are cooled start on the Swiss Meringue Buttercream (pg. 304). I actually made mine the night before just in case the frosting didn't turn out I would have time to come up with something else.

The Goods
5lg eggs whites
1cup plus 2tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
1lb unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, room temp
1 1/2teaspoons vanilla extract
4 1/2 oz semisweet chocolate-melted and cooled

The How To
Combine egg whites, sugar, and slat in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water.

Before I boiled the water I took the bowl from the mixer and figured out how much water I needed so the water wasn't touching the bowl

And here is my double boiler

Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips.)

Whisking my little heart out.

Take the bowl and attach it onto the mixer fitted with the whisking attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff peaks form.

unfortunately the mixer was moving way to fast for my camera :(

Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl) about 10mins.

With the mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition.

I had my trusty butter added on hand. As you can see he takes his job very seriously!!

Once all the butter has been added, whisk in vanilla. Switch to the paddle attachment, and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2mins. If needed scrape down sides with a spatula and keep beating until frosting is completely smooth.

Taste tester approved!!

Since I made mine the night before and I totally forgot to add the chocolate I brought the frosting to room temp and mixed it on low speed with the paddle attachment for about 5mins. Then I melted the chocolate (while the frosting was fluffing) and then added the chocolate to the frosting with a flexible spatula after the chocolate has had time to reach room temp.

Now that you have the major parts of the project ready you will need to make 12oz of toasted sweetened coconut. Preheat oven to 350. Spread coconut evenly onto a rimmed cookie sheet. Toast and stir occasionally until it starts to turn brown about 10mins.

Not realizing that I only needed 12oz, I ended up toasting the whole bag.

Good thing I like coconut!!!

Now while your coconut is cooling frost up the cupcakes. I did a couple at a time.

This was the closest thing I could find to a all brown cupcake liner.

Get all your decorating stuff together. You will need 24 coconut marshmallows, long chocolate sprinkles, 1lb gummy fish I found large and small ones and toothpicks.

I found my fish in the bulk section of Haggens.

Get yourself situated and grab a little glass of water ( I used a shot glass) and take the wet toothpick and poke 2 holes in the marshmallow to make room for the long sprinkles which will become the turkey's eyes.

Cut up some orange gummy fish (this is where I used the small fish) in half or in my case cut off just the tails and push half the gummy into each marshmallow for a beak. I found it easiest to take the toothpick and make a whole before inserting the gummy.

Now that you have your turkey heads ready insert a tooth into the marshmallow, this will keep it from falling off the cupcake. Now press marshmallow heads onto cupcake.

Take 5 gummy fish and press them into each cupcake to make tail feathers. I used the larger gummy fish for this also cutting the tails off so this only took 3 gummy fish per cupcake. I then took the left over fish tails and gave poor little turkey wings.



much better with wings

 Sprinkle toasted coconut over naked turkeys until completely covered.

And there you have it!!! Decorated cupcakes can be stored up to 1 day at room temp in airtight containers.

Up Next...
Sweet Potato Cupcakes