THE PINK SHOE COOKBOOK

It has been a long time, I know.

FAR too long.

I am working on a revamp of this site, and to be honest I haven't coooked or baked anything new and blog-worthy in a while.

Until last night.

I give to you: PUMPKIN CUPCAKES SHAPED LIKE ACTUAL PUMPKINS!

Now, I have been in the market for a baking pan that will allow me to make pumpkin shaped cupcakes. I found this beauty at Williams Sonoma


And while it is perfect, it's also $32. And it's not something you can use year round which I would like to be able to do with a pan if I am paying over $30 for it. So onward to my failsafe, Crate and Barrel where I found this fluted silicone muffin pan.




While not exactly pumpkin shaped, you can imagine that an inverted mini bundt could look like a pumpkin. Plus it is made of silicone which is fun, and at $12.95 you can't beat the price.

I ususally use a carrot cake mix + pureed pumpkin concoction when I am making pumpkin cupcake, but I found this fabulous Martha recipe yesterday and it looked easy enough so I went with that.


Pumpkin Cupcakes (via Martha Stewart Living)

Makes 18

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 can pumpkin purée (15 ounces)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin purée.

3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.
***********

I ended up using my new silicone pan, plus 2 mini cupcake pans and one regular cupcake size pan, so it makes a good amount of cupcake.

I found that the mini cupcakes took 10 minutes, the regular sized cupcakes took about 18 and the ones in the silicone pan took the full 20-25 minutes. Once they were cooled I inverted then, and using orange frosting with a little pipette attached I drew orange lines down the sids of the mini bundt-pumpkins (bundtkins) and used cut up green candied lime as the stems.

Et Voila!



Pumpkin Cupcakes shaped like ACTUAL PUMPKINS



I'm really into it, in case you can't tell.