Day 183 – Pumpkin Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting

More accurately Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below from Tracey’s Culinary Adventures).  Quite a name, right?  But an interesting combination.  And a whole lot of flavors that I like!  So, check out the Tip Thursday video and then see how all those flavors come together.

    

Pumpkin cupcakes are always so pretty! They seem to come out with that perfect top every time. I love it! They are squishy and dense. And somewhere between moist and oily.  They have a surprisingly strong pumpkin flavor. Not as much of the spices as pumpkin cupcakes usually have. Which isn’t a bad thing. It’s just a sweet, pumpkin cupcake.

The frosting is smooth and creamy. A little soft, but no softer than a typical cream cheese frosting.  It has a nice caramel flavor, but you get a lot of the cream cheese still too. Which is really interesting.

Note: My frosting was thick enough to pipe without needing to refrigerate, which is what the recipe suggests.

     

When I put them together, I’m surprised at how strong the caramel and the pumpkin flavors remain. And how well they seem to go together. It’s not a combination I had considered in the past, but, at least according to this cupcake, it totally works. It’s smooth and creamy. It’s really sweet, so consider yourself warned. But this would make a lovely addition to any holiday meal for sure! As long as you have pumpkin and/or caramel fans at the table.

Note: I didn’t have any caramels, so I topped mine with caramel Nips and the caramel bits I had.

     

Scoring Sheet:

• Cupcake Taste: 3.5

• Frosting Taste: 4

• Overall Taste: 4

• Appearance: 3.5

• Ease of Making: 3 (Easy cupcake! Caramel takes a bit of time though.)

• TOTAL: 18

RECIPE

Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe from Tracey’s Culinary Adventures)

Cupcakes

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature

Frosting

• 1 lb confectioners’ sugar, sifted divided
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

For directions visit Tracey’s Culinary Adventures.

*Tomorrow: Amaretto Gluten-free Cupcakes*