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How it’s Friday again, I have no idea. It seems like each week is flying by faster than the last. It’s pretty much already next year if you think about it. What? Yup… This is how my brain works:
It’s Friday, which means it’s the weekend, which basically means it’s already Monday again. Then, next weekend we’re going to a friend’s wedding, then the next weekend my in-laws come in town, then it’s Halloween, then it’s practically Thanksgiving, which means Christmas is like the next day, and then it’s January. Whew.
I could do this for the next five years if I wanted to. Kevin always gives me a hard time about just enjoying the present, which I do; I just also really really like to plan the future. I’m always thinking about the next big thing; the next vacation; the next car; the next home; BABIES! Am I the only one like this?? Is this a girl thing, or just a me thing?
One thing I’m not ready to fast forward through?? Fall flavors – and pumpkin! I haven’t tired of it yet, I suspect that I will in about six weeks, after I’ve gone through five zillion cans of the stuff, but for now I’m still happy, be-bopping along in my kitchen, making endless pumpkin creations.
So far, I’ve made pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin mac and cheese and pumpkin biscuits – oh and baked pumpkin donuts, that were an epic fail.
These are the most “dessert-y” thing I’ve made yet. I love the combination of chocolate and pumpkin, and didn’t want to do just another pumpkin cupcake/muffin, so I switched it up and instead of using pumpkin in the cake, made a pumpkin cream cheese frosting and a chocolate cupcake.
The cupcake recipe is an adaption from my hero, Martha’s cupcake cookbook, and is sooo ridiculously easy. All the ingredients are thrown into a stand mixer, and voila cupcake complete. They are so so chocolately, yet light at the same time. Kevin says that they remind him of the cake part of those hostess cream filled cupcake things, I don’t eat any of that stuff, so I wouldn’t know, but I think that’s a good thing.
They’re topped with a super simple pumpkin cream cheese frosting made up of only four ingredients, pumpkin, cream cheese, powdered sugar and butter – if you absolutely need to have the pumpkin spice in there you could throw in a little pinch, but I like the simplicity of the pumpkin flavor alone.
I didn’t mean for these to look like Halloween, but don’t they?
Make sure to store them in the fridge, and then pull them out about twenty minutes before serving.
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ cups sugar
- 1½ teaspoons baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup warm water
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 5 tablespoons safflower oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Frosting:
- 7 tablespoons butter, softened
- 5 ounces cream cheese, softened
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. In the bottom of a stand mixer, whisk together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Switch to the paddle attachment, turn the mixer on low and add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth.. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.
- Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each ⅔ full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating once halfway through baking. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.
- In the bottom of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment cream the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy on a medium-high speed, about two to three minutes. Add in pumpkin puree, mix another minute. Slowly add in powdered sugar, about a ½ cup at a time until fully incorporated. If the icing is not thick enough, add more powdered sugar. Transfer to a ziplock bag or pastry bag. Chill for at least an hour or even overnight.
- When cupcakes have cooled completely, pipe frosting. Store in the fridge. When ready to use, let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Ashley says
Definitely a girl thing – or at least I do the same thing. I really do try to live in the present but I’m such a huge organizer / planner that I can’t help but start thinking about things in the future! haha
These cupcakes look awesome by the way : )
Nicole says
Glad to hear I’m not the only one!! Let’s both try to just live in the moment this weekend. 😉
Alaina @ Fabtastic Eats says
haha I totally do that too…as much as Im enjoying the now, Im always thinking, talking about, and planning the future, I don’t think we can help it! Time just goes way to fast!
LOVE the frosting on these! Im so not ready for fall flavors to ever come to an end!
Dina says
love the pumpkin frosting!
Vanessa says
Heavenly! Frosting was the perfect amount of pumpkin and sweetness.
Elana says
I’m missing information. The icing recipie doesn’t state what the unit of measurement is for the
pumpkin and icing sugar. I assumed cups but I ended up adding almost double the icing sugar (over four cups) and the consistency was still VERY soft. Was my assumption wrong?
Nicole says
Elana your assumption was right, it is cups. I have fixed that. Also, did you chill the frosting before you piped it on to the cupcakes? That’s a very important step, it needs to chill for a few hours to become more structured, then piped on to the cupcakes, and finally stored in the fridge. I was trying to cut back on the calories and fat by not using more butter and sugar, so that’s why it’s softer than the average frosting.
Nicole says
I added a TON more sugar to make it thicker and then put it in the fridge. I also added vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. It really helped. When making it for different cupcakes I added cocoa and it was DELICIOUS