Pumpkin Cupcakes with Molasses Frosting
Serves: approximately 12
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • 1½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¾ cup canned pumpkin puree*
  • 1 tablespoon whole milk
  • Molasses Frosting (recipe follows)
  • Garnish: animal-shaped sugar decorations**
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 12-well muffın pan with paper liners.
  2. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugars, and vanilla extract with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy, stopping occasionally to scrape sides of bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and salt. In another small bowl, whisk together pumpkin and milk. With mixer at low speed, add flour mixture to butter mixture, alternating with pumpkin mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Divide batter among wells of prepared muffin pan. Tap pan on counter twice.
  4. Bake until a wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean, approximately 22 minutes. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to a wire cooling rack and let cool completely.
  5. Place Molasses Frosting in a piping bag fitted with a large open star tip (Wilton #1M). Pipe a frosting rosette onto each cupcake.
  6. Garnish each with a sugar decoration, if desired. Carefully wrap cupcakes with decorative cupcake wrappers*, if desired.
Notes
*Do not use pumpkin pie filling.

**We used Woodland Animals Sugar Decorations and Nest Cupcake Wrappers from Fancy Flours, fancyflours.com or 406-587-0118.
Recipe by TeaTime Magazine at https://teatimemagazine.com/pumpkin-cupcakes-with-molasses-frosting-recipe/