Pumpkin Cupcakes & Scary Eyeballs !!

I kept searching for a good pumpkin based dessert recipe and almost all the recipes I saw used canned pumpkin. I kept wondering, when you get lovely fresh Pumpkin in the stores , specially now that its Fall, why not use them.

Thats how I came to make these Pumpkin cupcakes with some chopped Pecans and Cream cheese frosting and they came out really well. And to keep up with the fun of Halloween , I decorated them like scary vein popping eyeballs !!

I took the recipe from the Joy of Baking website , but made a couple of changes. I added a little paprika powder for some kick and though you couldn't really taste any paprika, it sure tasted good overall. Also I skipped the butter and used Vegetable oil instead which made the cupcakes really moist.

I used some fun Halloween Pumpkin designed cups for the Pumpkin cupcakes and the chopped Pecans give a nice bite while enjoying these beauties ;-)

Pumpkin Cupcakes Recipe
Recipe source : Joy of Baking.com
(Yields a Dozen cupcakes)
For Pumpkin Cupcake:
All purpose flour - 1.5cups
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking Soda - 1 tsp
Cinnamon Powder - 1/2 tsp
Ground cloves - 1/4 tsp
Ground ginger powder - 1/4 tsp
Paprika powder - 1/4 tsp ( my variation)
Pumpkin puree - 1 cup ( I made my own)
Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup ( I dint use butter, if using then use - butter 1/2cup)
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Vanilla extract - 1tsp
Eggs - 2 large
Chopped Pecans - 2-3 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
For Cream cheese frosting:
Cream cheese - 4oz
Confectioners sugar / Powdered sugar - 1cup
Butter - 2tbsp
Vanilla extract - 1tsp

Directions
1. Preheat overn to 350F
2. For homemade pumpkin puree: Chop pumpkin into small cubes (approx - 1cup) and boil with 3 tbsp water and once the pumpkin becomes soft blend it or puree it until smooth.
3. Sift together the dry ingredients : All purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon powder, ground cloves , ground ginger, paprika and salt.
4. With the help of an electrc blender or hand mixer, mix togther the sugar and oil (or butter) until smooth, then add the eggs one at a time, vanilla extract and slowly mix in the flour mixture and pumpkin puree alternately.
5. Now add in the chopped pecans
6. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake cups and pour the batter into each 2/3 full.
7. Bake for 20 mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8. Place on a wire rack to cool down completely.

For Cream cheese frosting:
Use cream cheese at room temperature and using an electic or hand blender blend the cheese until smooth, then add butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract one by one and blend it well until the frosting becomes smooth and creamy.

For the scary eyeball designs I used
a. Cream cheese frosting
b. Grape flavoured Skittles
c. Blue colored Cream Cheese frosting
e. Pureed strawberry jam
Puree some Strawberry jam and put it in a piping bag.
Add the blue colored frosting in another piping bag.
Spoon some Cream Cheese frosting on the Cupcakes and place the Skittle candy in the centre, pipe some the blue colored frosting around the skillet and pipe the strawberry jam in a vein like design.

I wish everyone a fun filled Halloween and have a great time trick or treating. Hope you all have selected your costumes by now :-)
I picked out some cute Lady bug and Pumpkin costumes for my little monster at home ;-)
Enjoy!!

Sending this post to Halloween Fiesta event hosted by Vardhini of Zesty Palette. I want to thank Kavi of Edible Entertainment for letting me know of this beautiful event and also Vardhini for her invitation.

I've also sent this post to Priya's Healthy Bakes Roundup Event Announcement. ( There was some error while linking the post so my Pic has not shown up)

Also sending this post to Bake Fest #1 Event hosted by Vardhini of Zesty Palette.

Sending this post to Bake with your Heart event hosted by Khushi.

- Manju