Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes

Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes

My mom makes these amazing pumpkin cookies, and this was my attempt to replicate them as cupcakes. I decided to do mini cupcakes on the grounds that that would get the cupcake/icing ratio closer to the ratio of the cookies. I also used a few more spices in the cupcakes themselves, but I don't think that hurt anything. The soft crumbly texture of the cupcakes goes great with the crunch of pecans, and the brown sugar icing provides moisture and some extra sweetness.

Cupcakes:

2 cups cake flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp cardamom

1/2 cup buttermilk

vanilla

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temp

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/3 cup pumpkin

1 bag (12 oz) pecans

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, one a time. Stir in half the flour mixture, then the buttermilk and vanilla. Add the rest of the flour. Fold in the pumpkin, then the pecans, stirring by hand.

Spoon the batter into mini cupcake tin. Fill cups most of the way full. Bake for 10 minutes, turn, bake for 10 minutes.

Let cool.

Makes 48.

Brown Sugar Icing:

1 cup brown sugar, packed

6 tbsp butter

8 tbsp milk

1 1/2 cups xxx sugar

vanilla

In a saucepan over medium heat, bring sugar, butter, and milk to a boil, stirring frequently to avoid burning. After 2 minutes of boiling, remove from heat and whisk in the xxx sugar and the vanilla.

Use immediately, spooning generously over each cupcake.

Decorate as desired.

Cupcake recipe adapted from The Baking Robot

Icing recipe by my mother

Blueberry Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting

Blueberry Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting

These cupcakes include a blueberry compote that has to be boiled down and added to the batter. It's best to do this ahead of time, since it takes a little while and has to be strained and cooled. Incidentally, the original recipe called for blueberries in the batter, and I assumed that that would be overkill in addition to the blueberry compote. Well, I was wrong -- the cupcakes don't taste anything like blueberries, so I guess the whole blueberries are important for flavor. Oops!

Blueberry Compote:

2 cups blueberries

1/4 cup sugar

1 Tbsp cornstarch

Over medium-low heat, cook all the ingredients until all the blueberries have burst and the mixture is thick and jamlike in texture. Strain out the skins and any stems. You should have about a cup of compote left over. Let cool.

Cupcakes:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, soft

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

vanilla

1 3/4 cup flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup milk

~1 cup blueberry compote

1/2 cup whole blueberries [not used in this recipe]

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs one at a time, beating until well mixed, then add vanilla. Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder, and add to batter. Add milk, and stir until just combined. Fold in blueberry compote and blueberries.

Fill cupcake tins 3/4 full. Bake 10 minutes, turn, bake 12 minutes.

Let cool. Makes 22.

Icing:

1 stick butter, soft

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

3 cups xxx sugar, sifted

cream as needed

Cream ingredients until texture is right for piping.

Pipe a spiral onto the top of each cupcake, then add a blueberry on top for decoration. Voila!

Adapted from The Baking Robot

Creme Brulee Mini Cupcakes

Creme Brûlée Mini Cupcakes

These two-bite little cupcakes are tasty, and can really be flavored any way you want -- I used vanilla in my custard, but you can use almond extract, coconut, something fruity -- basically any flavor that you really enjoy.

Cupcakes:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup oil

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda.

In another bowl, whisk together sugars, oil, vanilla, and buttermilk. Pour into the dry ingredients and whisk until combined and smooth.

Fill mini cupcake liners with about a tablespoon of batter (about 2/3 full). Bake 7 minutes, turn tins, bake another 7 minutes.

Let cool.

Makes 36.

Creme Brûlée:

2 egg yolks

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

Beat egg yolks until thick and light colored. Beat in sugar.

In a saucepan, heat cream over medium heat until warm. Stir in vanilla.

A little at a time, stir half of the cream into the egg yolks. Make sure you are stirring constantly during this process to keep the eggs from curdling. Then add the egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring continuously.

My recipe claimed it would take 5-8 minutes for the custard to thicken, but my experience was that was a LIE. It actually took closer to 50 minutes, and I eventually had to add a little cornstarch to get it to thicken up. However, I didn't have enough heavy cream and I had to supplement with about 1/3 cup light cream, so I think this is one possible cause.

Whatever the case, don't panic if your custard takes a little while to thicken. Remember to keep stirring it, and when it's thick enough to coat the spoon it's ready.

When the custard is finished, strain it into a bowl using a fine mesh to remove solids. You will need to use it immediately.

To Finish:

1/4 cup brown sugar

Before making your custard, core a small hole in the top of each cupcake.

When custard is finished, spoon enough into each cupcake to fill the hole. Set the cupcakes in the fridge for at least two hours.

Before serving, sprinkle a generous amount of brown sugar over the top of the custard.

Then use a kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar into a crust. It will turn brown.

You only need to turn the heat on it for a short while -- too long and the sugar will burn, so use your judgement based on whether or not you like the burnt sugar taste.

This recipe was a little more nerve-wracking than some due to the custard, but overall not too bad. The mini cupcakes are perfect for a tea or garden party where finger food will be served; you can even unwrap them from their wrappers ahead of time to minimize trash. And the carmalised sugar topping looks extremely elegant.

Adapted from Design Bake Run.

Brown Sugar Pound Cakes with Brown-Butter Spice Frosting

Brown Sugar Pound Cakes with Brown-Butter Spice Frosting

After doing a lot of complicated recipes in April, I wanted to start out with something nice and easy for May. Voila!

Cupcakes:

3 cups flour, sifted

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

2 1/4 cups brown sugar, packed

4 eggs

3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Whisk together flour and bp.

Cream butter until light and fluffy, then add brown sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Add flour alternating with buttermilk.

Fill cupcake tins 3/4 of the way full. I overfilled, and that was not a great life choice, since these rise outward rather than upward and you will end up with those giant cake rims overflowed on the pan.

Bake 14 minutes, turn tins, bake another 15 minutes. Let cool.

Makes between 24-30, depending on how full you fill tins.

Icing:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

2 cups xxx sugar, sifted

2 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp milk

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp cinnamon

Heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it is brown and melted. Be careful, it burns easily -- I burned my first batch. Remove from heat, and strain into a mixing bowl to remove sediment.

Sift in sugar and spices. Add vanilla and milk, and beat until smooth and spreadable. If the icing is too thick, add more milk a little at a time. Use right away, as it sets up pretty quick.

I added the spices to this recipe because otherwise I think it can be somewhat bland. Cardamom is a huge favorite in our family, so I put in more of that than the other spices. You should definitely feel free to season this recipe to taste -- add spices you like, cut out ones you don't, and leave them out altogether if you'd prefer to have just the praline taste of the browned butter.

I only had 24 cupcakes because of overfilling the tins, and I ran out of icing, so you may want to make 1 1/2 recipes of the icing. You wouldn't think so, but sometimes Martha can lead you astray.

Both recipes adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes.