Pumpkin Cupcakes with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

I’m sitting here in disbelief that Thanksgiving is a few short days away. As much as I love this time of the year, I can tell it’s just gonna fly by all too quickly! For example, I’m currently knitting stockings for my husband, the pup and me, and I’ve been working on them since early October (which was just yesterday, right?). It just blows my mind that they’ll be on our mantel this weekend. I guess I should finish up my husband’s stocking ASAP, eh? 🙂

With this time of the year, I just can’t help but bake. I was asked to bake up some cupcakes (I’ll share the reason with y’all later…have to keep hush for now), and the first thing that popped in my head was pumpkin. I wanted to jazz them up a little bit, so I spiced up the standard cream cheese frosting and drizzled the cupcakes with my favorite caramel sauce. I made enough of these to also share with my coworkers, and a few of them asked for the recipe! Even my Mom is baking these up for Thanksgiving, which is a huge compliment since my Mom is pretty much my cooking/baking idol (along with my Memaw). 🙂

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
Source: cupcakes adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• pinch of ground cloves
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree

For the frosting:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• pinch of ground cloves

For the caramel drizzle:

• salted butter caramel sauce, cooled

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line your cupcake pans with cupcake liners and set aside.
2. In a medium sized bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Whisk the ingredients together until well-combined and set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the sugars, butter and eggs together until fully mixed. Add in the dry ingredients, and mix on low until the mixture is smooth. Scrape down the bowl. Add in the can of pumpkin puree, and mix until everything is well-combined.
4. Fill each cupcake liner about halfway full, and bake for about 20-25 minutes, rotating once after 10 minutes. You’ll know the cupcakes are done baking when  a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely.
5. To make the frosting, whip the cream cheese and butter for a full 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract, as well as the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, and mix until well-blended. Add in the confectioners’ sugar one cup at a time, mixing on low, until everything is mixed. Then, whip the frosting one last time on medium-high for about 30 seconds.
6. To decorate the cupcakes, pipe the frosting on the cooled cupcakes, and then drizzle with caramel sauce. Enjoy!