Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes

So, Halloween is coming up and I have a big fat pumpkin sat in front of me. I've never used the actual pumpkin before, but after this I will be again! Here's a sneaky preview of the end result, just to warm up your taste-buds.

I started with a basic cake recipe: 

180g self-raising flour 

2 eggs 

65g granulated sugar 

65g dark sugar 

115ml vegetable oil 

I then added the "autumnal goodness"

75g blended pumpkin 

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

a pinch of nutmeg/cloves (both if you're feeling crazy) 

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 180C and pop your cases into 12 cupcake tins.

Firstly, whisk up the eggs with both the sugars. I find it easier to break up the dark sugar first, this stops any sugar lumps, as it can be quite sticky. Once this is all combined add the oil and the seasoning. 

I'd previously hollowed out my pumpkin so I "whizzed up" 75g of the center and added it to the mixture - a stick blender is ideal for this. Then fold in the flour and fill up your cupcake cases. Don't worry if you're thinking the cases look a bit empty, they'll triple in height once the heat's got to them. Lastly put them in the oven for 15 minutes (I think my oven is also a time machine, so they may need 2/3 minutes longer, just check the center is cooked). 

That's the easy bit out the way... 

I decided to decorate the cakes with caramelised pumpkin seeds. All you need is:

a handful of pumpkin seeds (on average you'll want 5 per cake, so about 60 in total)

4 teaspoons granulated sugar

I sprinkled the pumpkin seeds into a frying pan and toasted them, so they turned a golden brown. Then whack the heat up and add in the sugar, keep moving it all around (it's better to use a wooden spoon for this as anything metal will attract all the sticky seeds). It took about 3/4 minutes for the sugar to turn to caramel and start darkening. Once you've got a nice caramel glaze, set aside and let them cool. 

Now, onto the icing:

100g butter

100g cream cheese

a few drops of vanilla essence

225g icing sugar 

Super simple; whisk everything up and gradually add in the icing sugar until you have a nice piping consistency. 

By this time your cakes should be out of the oven. Leave them to cool for 15/20 minutes then pipe on the icing (or dollop on with a spoon) and sprinkle with the seeds.

Then share the love - he's a few I brought to work.

Enjoy! X