Pumpkin Ginger Cupakes

Happy Thanksgiving!! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Everything is so cozy and delicious and family oriented. It's so fun. With such a fun group of housemates and a lovely bunch of friends in Eugene, the Fort decided to throw a little thanksgiving of our own on Sunday. Patty, chef extraordinaire, was in charge of most of the actual meal, but I was obviously in charge of dessert. Check out Patty's food blog too! She's brilliantly witty and makes sure I eat actual food other than oatmeal and scrambled eggs. Just because I love baking and have sort of mastered the cupcake, I'm still working on my cooking skills. You can lurk on all of Patty's skills at Feeding the Fort. I must admit, our house eats pretty well. Anyways, for our pre-thanksgiving/ friendsgiving dinner, I made my first successful pecan pie after the dreadful blackened pecan pie incident of 2011 and of course, I made some cupcakes. Fall flavors, though I love them, are rather limited. There are a hundred Winter flavors, but as far as Fall goes, pumpkin is really the main attraction. So pumpkin cupcakes had to be made! To spice things up a bit, I wanted to experiment with some ginger too. And as per Ellie's request, they were topped with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

Precious. Thankful for my friends!

PUMPKIN GINGER CAKE:
1 stick butter (room temp)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
Splash of vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 T pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 T ground ginger
A few good shakes of cinnamon (to taste)
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup egg nog  (See Note)

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs one at a time until blended. Add the vanilla and mix. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, ginger, and cinnamon. Slowly add the dry mixture to the butter mixture, alternating with the pumpkin and egg nog. (NOTE: I ran out of milk but had egg nog. The final product benefited from the extra nutmeg-y flavor and didn't taste like egg nog, but while they are baking/ still warm, these cupcakes smelled absolutely horrible. I didn't even want to taste them. Luckily, I did and was rather pleased by the taste. Once they cooled, the smell subsided. Milk would be a perfectly valid substitute in this recipe.) Being careful not to over mix, blend all ingredients until combined. Dived among lined cupcake tins and bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
1 stick butter (room temp)
1 block cream cheese (also room temp)
3 cups powdered sugar
A splash or two of whipping cream as needed
Lots of cinnamon (to taste)


Beat the butter and cream cheese until creamy. Add the powdered sugar and cinnamon slowly and blend until combined and thick. Cream cheese frosting has a tendency to get a bit sticky so adding a a little whipping cream will thin it out a bit. Spoon or pipe onto completely cooled cupcakes. (ANOTHER NOTE: I rarely work with cream cheese frosting because it is so sticky. Scooping it into a piping bag can be a tricky mess. If you can, have someone hold the bag open so you have maximum hand usage to limit the frosting from sticking to the sides of the piping bags, avoiding an otherwise inevitable collapse)

These cupcakes were a lovely taste of fall. The ginger made them a little bite-y and interesting. If given the opportunity to make them again, I would probably use milk over egg nog. It worked out fine, but I think milk would be a better choice. Oh well. Hakuna Matata. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

xoxo,

KG