Pumpkin spice cupcakes

October means no more summer which makes me a little sad because I love the warm weather but its the start of the baking season which makes me happy. Even though I firmly believe baking season is year round. All the yummy fall flavors like apple, pumpkin, cranberry, spices etc. inspire many delicious baked goodies I enjoy to make and eat!! So I jumped on the pumpkin cupcake bandwagon first. It seems to be very popular right now
I started with a spice cake base for the cake and added in canned pureed pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice and apple sauce instead of oil. It was dense, moist and smelled amazing

I have been into doing filled cupcakes lately so a friend of a friend gave me her pumpkin fluff recipe which I found out was my friend's recipe after all. Confused? ha ha
Its a mixture of pumpkin puree, vanilla pudding mix, frozen whipped topping and more pumpkin pie spice. I wanted to sit down with the bowl and a spoon, forget the cupcakes. ha. No seriously this stuff is to die for. Probably really good with graham crackers or ginger snaps

I used my Wilton Bismark tip to fill. I overfilled some since some were cracking on top -oops. Nothing a big glob of frosting wont fix!

Topped off with super yummy cream cheese frosting, I do believe that any kind of spice cupcake and cream cheese frosting go very well together

A sprinkling of cinnamon and a mellowcreme pumpkin to finish it off

I forgot I had this super cute pumpkin plate so I took this pic at last minute. I don't even remember where I got it from! But perfect to display my pumpkin spice cupakes

 Pumpkin Spice Cupcake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting recipe

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
•   2 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 c applesauce
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
•  
• Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 24 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners. Sift together the flour,pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.
2. Beat applesauce, the white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the sugar mixture before adding the next. Stir in the milk and pumpkin puree after the last egg. Stir in the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cups.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 25 minutes. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting by beating the cream cheese and 1/4 butter with an electric mixer in a bowl until smooth. Beat in the confectioners' sugar a little at a time until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; beat until fluffy. Once the cupcakes are cool, frost with the cream cheese icing

Pumpkin Fluff Recipe

Ingredients

1 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree ( not pumpkin pie spice)

1 package of vanilla instant pudding mix

1 container of frozen whipped topping ( cool-whip) thawed

1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice

Directions

dump all the ingredients into a bowl and mix until everything is incorporated. You can use a spoon, a spatula or even a hand mixer. Yes its that easy!!