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!!!