In the fall, my daughter would love to eat some sort of “pumpkin spice” item every day to celebrate the season. 😉 She loved these cupcakes!
These super moist cupcakes were delicious but it was the maple-cream cheese frosting that really put them over the top. The frosting was fabulously creamy with the perfect amount of sweetness.
The recipe was adapted from David Leite via smittenkitchen.com. I modified the method and used fine sea salt.
Yield: 18 cupcakes (with leftover frosting)
For the Cupcakes:
- 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 cups cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda, sifted
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin
For the Frosting:
- Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
- 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 4 T (1/4 cup) pure maple syrup
- pinch fine sea salt
To Make the Cupcakes:
- Heat oven to 350° (175°C), preferably on convection. Line a cupcake pan with 18 liners.
- In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper into a medium bowl.
- Add eggs, one at a time, to the mixer, scraping down the sides after each addition.
- Combine the buttermilk and vanilla extract in a liquid measuring cup.
- Alternate adding the flour and buttermilk mixtures to the mixer, beginning and ending with the flour.
- Beat in the pumpkin until smooth.
- Scoop the batter among the cupcake liners — you’re looking to get them 3/4 full. (I used a cookie scoop.)
- Bake the cupcakes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, rotating halfway through the baking time, about 19 to 20 minutes on convection or up to 20 to 25 minutes in a standard oven.
- Cool the cupcakes on racks completely before topping with the frosting.
To Make the Frosting:
- In a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter to combine.
- Add all of the additional ingredients and continue to beat on medium speed until fluffy.
- Frost the tops of each cupcake, swirling decoratively. (I used a pastry bag and decorative piping tip.)
- Refrigerate cupcakes for 30 minutes to set up frosting prior to serving.
thebrookcook 
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