Hello Again with Pumpkin Cupcakes!

Hello everyone!

It's Caitlin here. Sorry we have been absent for so long. I have definitely missed the blogsphere.
Just as an update - all of the Peas are now Seniors in College. We have the great fortune of living together in an apartment - which means we pretty much cook and bake all the time. However, we are all extraordinarily busy with schoolwork, jobs, internships, you name it, so our time on here may not be as plentiful as last year. We have made some new friends in the cooking world (shout out to all our friends from Tasty Kitchen!) and as always, our mothers are reading this (if no one else - we can always count on the Mother Peas). Our apron collection has grown by leaps and bounds, and our budgets have decreased to mere figments of imagination. So, when presented with the opportunity to bake cupcakes on someone else's dime - I naturally jumped.

Today the College of Arts and Sciences at LU had a showcase to promote the various majors, departments, and friendly competition between the engineers and the English Majors. (Trust me, Poe would have been proud of us). Well, the English Department commissioned this baker to provide some tasty morsels to bribe unsuspecting freshman to our table while we coerced them with pithy quotes and shiny rhetoric to join our ranks. So, I embarked on a journey of cupcakedom.

I decided on a pumpkin cupcake with cinnamon buttercream icing. It is beginning to be fall here in Tennessee, so I tried to encourage the changing season as much as I could. I think the cupcakes were a hit - and I was asked on multiple occasions for the recipe. So for all you inquiring ones - I give you the keys to the repository. Use them well and remember to pass on the love.

I actually began with a Martha Stewart Recipe as a base, but I am heavy handed with spices - so here is her recipe with my alterations. (You can find hers on her website Pumpkin Cupcakes - Martha Stewart Recipes). I also doubled the recipe - but a word of caution. Her website says it makes 18 cupcakes. I doubled - it and made upwards of 50 cupcakes. YES - 50. I just filled the liners half full - and still had 50. So...you have been warned.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 cup packed dark-brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

4 large eggs

1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin puree.

Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

I tried some new liners this time - and was absolutely thrilled with their results. It was the Reynolds Stay Brite Baked for You liners. Yes - that was a plug. But seriously - I loved the pattern. And they are foil-lined so the design doesn't get lost in the baking. Check them out:

Then I threw my signature cinnamon buttercream on top:

• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  
• 2 teaspoons organic cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoons salt
• 1 pound powdered sugar
• 4 Tablespoons milk

That is a Caitlin signature icing - and ask the other peas - it is highly addicting. One might even do her room mates dishes to lick the beater. Again - you have been warned.

The cupcakes went over really well today - so thanks to everyone who came out to the table! While most visitors were my friends who I had warned about the impending arrival of cupcakes, a good number of people were trying my cupcakes for the first time. I would love to know what anyone who tried them thought. Drop me a message, comment, text, tag, link, page, carrier pigeon, smoke signal, tell my mother, etc.

The other two peas send their love. I am not sure how much we will be on here - but I just wanted to pop in and say hey to our wonderful readers.

As always, we love you all. Thanks for sticking with us.

Grace, Peace, and Love.
Caitlin