Cupcake Hero - Pumpkin (October)

And my entry is.... Ginger Cupcakes with Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting!!! Mmmmmmm.

I decided to take a different route than the other people entering and put the pumpkin in the frosting instead of the cupcake. So I started to think about what would go well with pumpkin without making it too reminiscent of pumpkin pie. The idea I finally settled on was ginger. I browsed other ginger cakes and a lot of them were based on brown sugar, molasses, or other heavy sugars. I wanted something light - I actually thought about ginger angel food. That (as you can see from my previous post) did not work out so well. So I went back to the drawing board and came up with something else. I based my recipe off of "Billy's Vanilla Cupcakes" but I made the recipe smaller and added in ginger. The ginger is really light and delicate, and balances really well with the pumpkin. Neither are overpowering and neither are stronger than the other. If you like a spicier cupcake, add more ginger, but I like it pretty well as is. Here it is:

Ginger Cupcakes
Makes 12-15 cupcakes

3/4C cake flour
3/4C all-purpose flour
1C sugar
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 tbsp ground ginger
1/2C (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into chunks
2 large eggs (room temp)
1/2C whole milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract


PREHEAT OVEN to 325F.

1 - Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and ginger. Mix until combined. GINGER must be mixed in well or you will have "hot spots" in the cupcake.
2 - Add butter, mix until just coated with flour mixture.
3 - In separate bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, and vanilla.
4 - Add wet ingredients to dy in 3 parts. Beat until incorporated, be careful not to overmix.
5 - Fill 2/3 full. DO NOT OVERFILL.
6 - Bake 18-24 minutes or until tester comes out clean. (Be careful not to overbake or the cupcakes will be crunchy.)
7 - Allow cupcakes to cool for at least an hour before frosting.

Pumpkin Buttercream Frosting

1/2C (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2C pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
3-4C powdered sugar
OPTIONAL - Orange food coloring

1 - Cream butter and pumpkin.
2 - Add vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well.
3 - Sift sugar into wet ingredients 1C at a time for the first 2C, then 1/2C at a time until buttercream is solid and not streaky or too soft.
4 - Add in food coloring, if desired, to make the frosting more orange.

-- DO NOT FROST CUPCAKES YET --

DECORATION
Dark Chocolate, melted in a double boiler (or the microwave)

Materials needed: silicone mat (Silpat or similar) or waxed paper
Cookie sheet
Piping bag + tiny writing tip

1 - Outfit your piping bag with the smallest round writing tip you have. (If you have plastic tips, you can easily remicrowave the chocolate if it cools too much.)
2 - Put the Silpat (or waxed paper) on the cookie sheet.
3 - Fill the bag with the melted chocolate. Let the chocolate cool somewhat, it should be warm enough to pipe but not hot enough to ooze out by itself. (This may take some experimentation to determine the proper temperature.)
4 - Pipe spider webs, starting first with the straight lines and then connecting them with the curved lines.
5 - Once the cookie sheet is covered in webs, place the cookie sheet in the refrigerator for 5 minutes or until the chocolate firms up. Then carefully remove the chocolate webs and set them aside.

ASSEMBLE
Frost cooled cupcakes. While frosting is still wet, add spider web on top. If frosting dries before you put the web on top, swirl it around a bit with your finger or a knife to soften it up again.