There are a few things I really love to eat. Mostly anything sweet and mostly dessert. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have an incredible sweet tooth. Funny that my name is Candi and I love candy, cookies, cakes and ice cream so very much. I would probably pass on most entrees and just cut to dessert if I had my way . When I was a kid I would gladly trade a sandwich for dessert any day of the week. Some things never change. I’d like to believe that my tastes in dessert have changed a wee bit and that I have a bit more of a sophisticated palate now but not when it comes to candy, I still love junk candy as much as I did when I was 6. However my taste in cake has definitely improved with age. I don’t think I would have enjoyed pumpkin cake as a kid but I really love it now. Anything baked with pumpkin gets high marks in my book and if you put cream cheese frosting on it it’s off the charts. It’s just the right amount of sugar and spice! A most perfect Fall Cake or cupcake. It really is a very easy recipe to follow , I made cupcakes but you can easily make this in a Pyrex 9 x13 inch pan as a sheet cake and frost it and decorate with candy corn or those little candy pumpkins! Nice little treat for those little trick or treaters in your house.
Now you can make these without frosting and just eat like muffins with a little smear of cream cheese which wouldn’t be too bad either.
Happy Halloween Everyone!!!
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Shopping List:
1 can Pumpkin ( not pumpkin pie filling just Pumpkin) 15 oz. size
cream cheese and paper liners for cupcakes
Staples: (things you should have in your Pantry and fridge all the time)
all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ground cloves, salt, vegetable oil, eggs, confectioner’s sugar, unsalted butter, vanilla extract, and milk
Ingredients:
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves if no ground cloves you can substitute with pumpkin pie spice or nutmeg. I prefer cloves.
1 tsp. salt (regular table salt)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 can Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) Pure Pumpkin
4 eggs ( room temperature please)
Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 cups of confectioner’s sugar
1/3 cup softened butter ( unsalted)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 oz. softened cream cheese ( soften in microwave) not melted just softened or you can leave it out for a bit and it will soften up. I actually used light cream cheese not fat free please. I mean the amount of calories is staggering, but you’re only going to eat 1 cupcake right? how many calories can possibly be in that????? Don’t tell me , I don’t want to know.
1 Tbsp. Milk ( I used skim plus)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. I mixed all dry ingredients together then mixed in eggs ( one at a time) and can of pumpkin and vegetable oil. Mix till combined, don’t overmix. No need to sift, just put dry ingredients in a bowl first and whisk together with a whisk , get some air in there.
Pour into a greased muffin pan about 3/4 full. I always use little paper liners and bake at 35o degrees for 20 – 30 minutes . Be careful not to over bake so the cake stays moist. I baked for 26 minutes. I started checking on them after 20 minutes.
Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting. I made my frosting in my electric mixer while cupcakes were cooling.
Frost Cupcakes / Cake and if you’d like decorate with some of those little Halloween Candies like candy corn or those little pumpkin shaped candies sold this time of year. Enjoy!
*should make about 16 cupcakes , I made 12 and a mini loaf.
Cooking with Candi 