So I love pumpkin...love, love, love. Matter of fact I made the Pumpkin Risotto from last week's post last night again and even put some more puree pumpkin in it and fried some sage leaves to put on top...oh and I used the Basil Pesto I blogged about on Monday and put it on french bread and warmed it in the oven. Oh my gosh I am hungry again...but anyway this is about pumpkin and my other favorite treat cupcakes.
As I have mentioned time and time again you can take any basic cake mix and change the flavors by the liquid or oil that you add into it...I love pumpkin bars with cream cheese icing but don't want to put all that work into them. So I took a basic butter cake recipe, a can of pumpkin, some pumpkin pie spice, a couple eggs and water (but everyone should have that) and a can of cream cheese frosting and made my own version of pumpkin bars but in cupcake form.
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| All the ingredients. |
To make the cupcakes you make them just as the package states except replace 1/2 of the oil with the canned pumpkin or all of it if you want. It will make the cupcakes a little more dense but they will be healthier and very tasty. I also added about 2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice. I fill the cupcake papers to 1/2 or 3/4 full so they poof out of the top of the paper for prettier icing and bake per package instructions. I keep the extra pumpkin in the refrigerator for a yummy pumpkin risotto or soup! You could also freeze it in ice cube trays for a great addition to any soup this winter.
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| Awesome StayBrite cupcake papers. |
I then ran across these super cute but not too cutesy cupcake papers in Target that are guaranteed to keep their vibrant color. They are made by Reynolds, called StayBrite and they are awesome.
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| Old sad, cupcake papers. |
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| Comparison of old paper cupcake papers to StayBrite |
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| My decorations...I used gel icing to make pumpkins with sparkly orange and green gel. |
These would be perfect for a fall party or a tailgate!
I found this AWESOME base recipe for cupcakes and wanted to share it with you... who knows maybe you already use it from time to time. Here's the details:
ReplyDelete- 1 box of cake mix
- 2 small boxes of jello instant pudding
- 1 cup of vegetable oil
- 1 cup of sour cream
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1 tbsp vanilla
It makes the batter really thick, but the cupcakes come out super moist and stay that way for days. The pudding adds extra sweetness so beware for that with super sugary icings. You can also cut the pudding to just one box and leave everything else the same for a less sweet cake, it still stays moist, but isn't quite the same. Hope you enjoy!