Pumpkin cupcakes with maple-cream cheese frosting

My second and final birthday baking effort in October produced these little babies.



I love them more than I can say. The crumb is delicate, and the peppery hit at the end makes it more spice cake than cupcake. They aren't super sweet, so the icing is a nice touch, but next time I would probably just dust them with powdered sugar and devour them warm.

Even the batter was pretty - so light and fluffy.

Adapted from David Leite, found via Smitten Kitchen

Makes about 20 cupcakes

Cake

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup light brown sugar

2 Tablespoons molasses

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 cups sifted cake flour (I sifted before measuring)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons ground Saigon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

scant 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 eggs

1 1/4 cup pumpkin (I used fresh - the last of my garden pumpkins)

1/2 cup Trader Joe's Organic Whole Grain Drink, original

1 Tablespoon vanilla (add to "milk")

1 Tablespoon lemon juice (add to "milk")

Frosting

12 ounces cream cheese

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup maple syrup

hefty splash of "Maple Concentrate"

enough powdered sugar to get the right consistency - at least 2 1/2 cups

Method

-beat the sugars, molasses, and the butter together until fluffy

-sift and measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper into a bowl

-add the eggs 1 at a time until fully incorporated

-alternate adding the flour and milk mixtures, starting and ending with the flour mixture

-add pumpkin until smooth

-fill the liners

-bake in pre-heated oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake

I used a few cupcake baking tins lined with Halloween wrappers and sprayed with Bakers Friend. To get the right amount of batter into each cavity, I used a #20/3T disher like this. (love that thing, and it's leftie-friendly)

For the frosting, mix the wet ingredients, then add the powdered sugar until it is the right consistency. I would cut the frosting recipe in half next time, and I would not use maple syrup at all. I don't like to use things like creepy generic bottles of MAPLE FLAVOR, but as some people in the Smitten Kitchen comments suggested, real maple syrup did not add enough flavor. There was no maple hint after adding 1/4 of syrup, and that stuff is expensive. The bottled Maple Flavor tasted fine and added exactly what I wanted.

To make these cupcakes birthday-appropriate, I piled on a little too much frosting. I'd recommend a light swirl of frosting on top.