Food Friday: Spiderweb Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes

Okay, so I’ve been holding off posting these because I do like to actually post things I HAVE ACTUALLY MADE. But since this last week or so has been exceptionally busy, if I posted things I have actually made recently you would be reading about oatmeal and grilled cheese right now.

So let’s assume that this gorgeous recipe from this gorgeous book (Cupcakes by Eleanor Klivans or the companion Cupcake Deck) is amazing. Everything else I have made from this collection is yummy and fantastic, and if I actually do get to make them YOU WILL BE THE FIRST TO KNOW. Or maybe second or third.

I am looking forward to a quiet moment in my kitchen with this seasonal cupcake recipe, but if you get to it first I will gladly help you critique the recipe.

Spiderweb Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes

Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
3 large eggs
1/4 cup crystallized ginger, cut into 1/8 – 1/4 inch pieces

Frosting
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
6 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 – 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 – 2 tsp. whole milk

Cupcakes
Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Sift all the dry ingredients together and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, and pumpkin until smooth. Mix in eggs and crystallized ginger, and then slowly mix in the dry ingredients until everything is incorporated. Spoon batter into your muffin tin. If you are using a silicone one, you can fill the cups all the way to the top. If not, place cupcake papers into a metal tin and fill halfway. Bake until firm, about 20 minutes or so. Cool on rack.

Frosting
Beat butter, cream cheese, and vanilla until smooth. Add powdered sugar until frosting is smooth and light.
Set aside 1/4 cup of frosting, and mix cinnamon into this until it turns a light brown color. Add a touch of milk, so frosting is thick but pourable. Place in a sealable freezer bag with all air pressed out, and cut a tiny hole in one of the bag’s corners. This is now a makeshift pastry bag.

Frost cooled cupcakes with white frosting then, using the brown frosting, pipe a dot in the center of the cupcake, and two concentric circles around the dot. Drag a toothpick from the cupcake center to the edge to create the spiderweb pattern.