Thursday, October 29, 2009

pumpkin cupcakes.

pumpkin_cupcake

[yes. this is my picture. i'm working on my food styling/photography skills - what do you think?]

fall is my favorite season. maybe it's because i love all things pumpkin.

the other night, my roommate and i decided to have a little bake-fest [she's my sous chef/cooking prodigy - i love it]. 

we googled 'pumpkin cupcakes', and martha stewart's recipe was the first to pop up. let me just tell you, martha does not disappoint.

there wasn't a frosting recipe, so i took the liberty of using a cream cheese frosting recipe that i now have memorized. excellent choice on my part, if i do say so myself.

[the recipe makes about 20 cupcakes. i had to make another batch so i could take some pictures].

martha stewart's pumpkin cupcakes
2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. coarse salt
1 t. ground cinnamon
1 t. ground ginger
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. ground allspice
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. sugar
1 c. (2 sticks) butter, melted and cooled
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
directions:
1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. line cupcake pans with paper liners. set aside. in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. set aside. [don't worry if you don't have all the right spices. we didn't have allspice, so i just doubled the amount of nutmeg].
2. separately, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. [i apparently can't read recipes, and just softened my butter instead of melting it - it still worked great]. whisk in pumpkin puree. [the recipe calls for 15 oz. of pumpkin puree, which is actually half of of the cans of pumpkin you find at most stores].
3. divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway to 3/4 full. bake approximately 20 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. [in my oven it was almost exactly 20 minutes].


cream cheese frosting
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 t. vanilla
3 1/2 c. powdered sugar
directions:
cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. add vanilla. then add powdered sugar. it will be too thick to use regular beaters after you add the powdered sugar, just fyi. hope you have a kitchenaid. or you don't mind using your muscles. i pipe my frosting out of a re-usable featherweight piping bag i purchased at michael's. and this recipe makes exactly the right amount needed to frost one batch of these cupcakes.

enjoy!



xoxo.
jana

ps. i weighed less the day after i made these. they're magic cupcakes.


6 left some love.:

Emma October 29, 2009 at 4:49 PM  

that is a magazine-worthy photo! what's your secret?!

Dawn October 30, 2009 at 6:11 AM  

Fantastic photo! I watched a show on Food Network one day that showed "food stylists" and some of their secrets... they used WD-40 to make the eggs look more appetizing and stuffed pie crust with mashed potatoes before placing individual cherries in the "cut slice". So weird.

Not sure if there are any tricks for baked goods like that, but your pics looks yummy!

Kylie Whiting October 31, 2009 at 2:37 PM  

this looks great! ok jana, i'm serious about getting together- i think it would be super fun to go shoot together on an afternoon and just talk about photography and food and everything! we could shoot eachother or bring friends along... just have some good ole photo fun. let me know what you think!

Bianca November 1, 2009 at 11:41 AM  

i love that picutre!!! it looks delishhh!

Lydia November 2, 2009 at 1:17 PM  

oh my gosh! I made these same cupcakes last sunday & everyone ADORED them! super pics by the way :)

Lisa November 2, 2009 at 8:40 PM  

Thanks for sharing this recipe! I made them on Halloween and they were a hit! I even shared the love and posted the recipe on my web log. Beautiful photograph, by the way.