Concrete Jane: Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice, Part I

I've already expressed my undying love for cupcakes. I also love fall - my birthday, college football, leaves changing colors - it's wonderful! So why not combine the two for my first NYC cupcaking adventure? This recipe comes courtesy of my wonderful sorority sister over at Living in Lilly. I altered it ever so slightly, mostly because New York grocery stores don't believe in butterscotch.

The All-Time Best Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 (3.4 oz) package instant butterscotch pudding

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup white sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

4 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree

Cream Cheese Frosting

And LOTS of candy for toppings!

ALL the candy.

My Alterations:

- I used instant vanilla pudding instead of butterscotch pudding. Butterscotch wasn't available at any of the 4 grocery stores I went to, but after some research I learned that the big difference between the two is the use of brown sugar.

- So I took out a Tbsp of the white sugar in the recipe and added in an extra Tbsp of brown sugar. It didn't mess with the consistency at all; they were still some of the most moist cupcakes I've ever had!

- Instead of the spices, I used 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp of Pumpkin Pie Seasoning. Since I'm new to the kitchen here, I didn't have many of the ingredients, so buying the blend was significantly cheaper. If you have an established spice rack, going with the individual ones is probably a better idea.

- Taryn also provided a homemade Cream Cheese Frosting recipe. Since I don't have a stand mixer (or even a hand mixer right now), I decided to opt for the can of frosting. I'm usually really opposed to this, so if you can go homemade, I highly recommend it. But anyone who has ever tried to make frosting without a mixer feels my pain on this one.

- I also doubled the recipe (actually I made it twice in a row), so I could have leftovers to make cake truffles... which I'll talk about later!

Roomie D with the massive amounts of butter that went into our 48 cupcakes

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin cups.

2. Whisk together the flour, pudding mix, baking soda, salt, and spices. Set aside.

3. In another bowl, beat together butter, white sugar and brown sugar. If you have a standing mixer, use the paddle attachment. If you're poor like me, do it by hand and skip the gym that day.

Ouch forearms.

4. Add the eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend before adding the next.

5. Beat in the vanilla and pumpkin with the last egg.

6. Stir in the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. I tend to do half the dry ingredients, make sure it's totally mixed, and then add in the other half. Habit, I suppose.

7. Pour the batter into prepared muffin cups.

Ready to bake!

8. Bake in the preheated oven until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 20 minutes

9. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

10. Top with cream cheese frosting and delicious decorations!

Our naked cupcakes just waiting for a wardrobe

So How Did They Turn Out?

I'll be the first to admit it. I am a cake snob. I expect my cake to be moist yet springy, dense yet fluffy, and all around delicious. These cupcakes were PERFECT. This recipe is practically foolproof. It's just the right amount of spice, and the pumpkin puree makes them yummy and moist - so moist that you can see a few of them shedding their liners in that picture up there! It was a great recipe to get back into the groove of baking to. I HIGHLY recommend it!

But of course, a cupcake is more like a muffin until you put it's topping on. I bought this starter kit from Michael's. It comes with three frosting tips, a filling tip, and a handful of disposable pastry bags to start you off: