I changed my font at thecutestblogontheblock.com

About Me

My Photo
Sam
I am 27 years old and am blessed to have my husband Brady, as my partner and best friend. We have two children, Parker and Piper, our little yorkie. We are constantly amazed by the joy they bring into our lives and can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!
View my complete profile

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Chocolate Cupcakes with Pumpkin Frosting!

When I started making these, everything went wrong...I didn't have oil, couldn't find pumpkin puree and accidentally dropped a full cup of cream out of the refrigerator.   Normally, I would have just decided to make something different, but I was having company over and couldn't get the thought of chocolate cupcakes with pumpkin butter cream frosting out of my head (oh, and did I mention that they were spider cupcakes...:).

Here is how I solved my dilemmas...
Lack of oil: This was a box cake mix and I knew I could use applesauce as a substitute but I didn't have applesauce (nor do they sell it here), so I decided to quickly make my own with the two apples on my counter.  Oh, and did I mention that I also don't have a food processor anymore so I had to just dump the cooked apples into the mix and hope that my mixer would do the trick...it did!

Lack of pumpkin puree:  I was determined to make pumpkin butter cream frosting...in a country that doesn't carry pumpkin puree.   Luckily, I had just bought a couple of pumpkins and decided to use one of them to make my own.  Here is the recipe I used.  Again, the electric mixer was fine, but it would have been much better with a food processor.

Cream everywhere:  yeah...this is sort of self-explanatory, but lets just say that I still have stains on my walls above my cabinets.

After baking the cupcakes (which were super, super moist by the way), I made the butter cream frosting. My Grandma Bevo makes the BEST buttercream frosting...ever.  I have tried on several occasions to recreate her genius with absolutely no luck.  Today, I finally succeeded (ok, maybe just close enough to be edible)!!!  Wahoo!!  Here is the pumpkin frosting recipe I used.


Pumpkin Butter Cream:
2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 c. pumpkin puree
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 lbs. confectioner’s sugar (more or less)
Cream butter, pumpkin and spices. Slowly add sugar until the buttercream is no longer seperated by the pumpkin. Use or keep chilled for up to 2 weeks.

Mine was not as orange as the picture showed, but I think it would be prettier (and taste more pumpkin-y) with actual canned puree.  Sometimes, homemade is just not better.

Anyway, here is the finished product...Oh, and Brady said these were the best cupcakes he's ever had!!  Seriously, nothing I cook is the best he's ever had so this was a big deal...

They taste better than they look...black licorice for the legs (they don't really have red here) and M&Ms for the eyes.


Parker helped me put on the eyes and sprinkles...he did such a good job!!!

4 comments:

brandonandlindslitzner said...

yum!! martha stewart...watch out!

Karen said...

Very very cute! Lucky Parker gets to watch his mommy make fun cupcakes!

Jamie said...

So cute! I'm so proud of your inventive substitutions!

Lindsey said...

Mmmm I'm definitely going to have to try these out!

Post a Comment