Thursday, November 6, 2008
Perfectly Chocolately Pumpkiny Cupcakes
Mmmmm… I’m a lil late on posting this, but who cares. I decided WAAAAY back when I bought my first bag of Pumpkin Spice Kisses, that I would make chocolate cupcakes with pumpkin spice kisses inside & pumpkin cream cheese frosting for Halloween. I bought the bag of kisses right before Labor Day. So, needless to say I had developed much anticipation for these cupcakes. I had decided on Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake for the cake recipe, and Peabody’s Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting.
Chocolate Cupcakes with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting
Cake: from Hershey's
Frosting: from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody
About 30 cupcakes.Ingredients:
CAKE:
2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling waterFROSTING:
1 8 oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 TBSP finely grated orange zest
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 - 4 cups powdered sugarDirections:
CAKE:
Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F.Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely.
FROSTING:
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin puree on medium speed of an electric mixer until smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Add the spices, zest and vanilla extract and mix well. Gradually add the sugar and beat until desired consistency. Refrigerate for 1 hour, Remove from refriferator 5-10 minutes before using. Spread on the tops of the completely cooled cupcakes.