Maple-Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes

These cupcakes are an exciting (for me at least) amalgamation of all the great things this season has to offer: warm flavors, lots of spice, and an excuse to be festive. The second I saw googly-eyed sprinkles and the maple extract in the baking isle I knew it was a shut-in, baking, Coraline, and apple cider type of night. This recipe only makes seven cupcakes, so feel free to double it! I was a little skeptical about their shelf life with pumpkin puree in the frosting but they have maintained their form and flavor for over three days now. Enjoy!

Before you start

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line your muffin pan with cupcake tins

Ingredients

Cake

• 1/4 cup of cold butter (Earth Balance, Miyokos, etc)

• 1/2 cup of light brown sugar

• 1/2 cup of milk (I use a thicker soy or protein nut milk for baking as opposed to a light almond or rice milk)

• 2 tbs of apple cider

• 1 tsp of maple extract

• 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar

• 1 cup of all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp of baking powder

• 1/4 tsp of baking soda

• 1/4 tsp of sea salt

• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

• 1/8 tsp of cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and cardamon

Frosting

• 4 tbsp pumpkin puree

• 1/4 cup + 2 tbs of non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening

• 1/4 cup oat flour

• 1.25 cups of powdered sugar

• Dash of cinnamon and spices from cake batter

Preparation

1. Cream the brown sugar and the butter (manually or with a mixer) in a medium bowl until they have a whipped consistency. This should take about 6-8 minutes.

2. Whisk all your wet ingredients in a measuring cup or bowl and add to the whipped butter and sugar. Stir. Don’t be surprised if your mixture looks curdled, chunky, and unpleasant.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with your wet mixture and mix thoroughly but only until most of the lumps are gone.* If you under-mix, the cake will have too large of a crumb. If you over-mix, the gluten will develop and the cake will be dense and chewy.

4. Immediately scoop batter into cupcake liners until they are 3/4 filled. These cupcakes rise really well so you don’t want to overfill the liners.**

5. Bake for 22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

6. Allow to cool COMPLETELY.

7. While the cupcakes are baking/cooling, whip all of the frosting ingredients on high until everything is smooth and whipped and light. Oat flour was the perfect way to combat the moisture of the puree so if you think your frosting is a bit on the runny side, add more flour.

8. Frost your cupcakes. I cut the top off of a standard ziplock bag, cut a few incisions in one of the bottom corners like a serrated tip, and then filled it with frosting but obviously a piping bag would be more ideal.

Tips

*It would probably be wise to mix all your dry ingredients together separately before adding them to your wet ingredients, but I haven’t had a problem skipping this step. Just watch out for clumps of baking powder, soda, or salt.

**You don’t want your batter to sit out for too long at all because the baking powder reaction will take place without the oven. This means your cakes won’t rise properly.

---

Annalise