Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes

My definition of baking: time-consuming, mess-creating, calorie-bomb-manufacturing, no-room-for error science experiment producing an excess amount of temptation-provoking desserts, which if successful, tortures all sweet-toothed dieters within a 1-mile radius.

Yet, in addition to the subject of accounting and the art of portraits, I am drawn like a moth to a flame to the process of baking, since it consistently presents a challenge I seem to never conquer....

No matter what I am making, from the most basic of brownies to the more complex layered cake, something ALWAYS goes wrong, EVERY time, without fail...yet, I seem to come back to it again and again...like a moth to a flame....or should I say, like a toddler to a bowl of leftover batter ; )

In the spirit of the fall season, I decided to make Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes, a recipe from 'OVIEDOGIRL' I found from allrecipes.com

If I may say so, they really did turn out to be delicious....so I wanted to share the recipe below.  Additionally, I provided photos of our cupcakes + various other people's creative ways for decorating...Enjoy!

Our version, as decorated by my little ones....

Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cupcake Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 (3.4 ounce) pkg instant butterscotch pudding mix
2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 T ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
*1/2 t ground allspice
*1/4 t ground cloves
*1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

1 cup butter, room temp
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
4 eggs, room temp
1 t vanilla extract
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree

*Since I did not have these 3 ingredients, I replaced all 3 with 1 t pumpkin pie spice (which is a combo of spices, including cloves, nutmeg, ginger, etc.)

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

1 8oz package of cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 t vanilla extract
2 c powdered/confectioners sugar

Cupcake Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake pan w/ paper liners.  Whisk together the flour, pudding mix, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, cloves, and crystallized ginger in a bowl, set aside.

2. Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in large bowl until light and fluffy (mine was more crumbly)...Add the room-temp eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the butter mixture before adding the next.  Beat in the vanilla and pumpkin puree with the last egg.  Stir in the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated.  Pour the batter into the prepared cupcake cups.

3.  Bake in preheated oven until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 23 min.  **Cool in pans for 10 min before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

**Since I only had 1 cupcake pan, which I needed for repeat batches, I did not leave cupcakes in pan to sit for 10 min...I removed immediately to the wire rack and didn't notice any issues.

Cream Cheese Frosting Directions:

Cream together cream cheese and butter. Stir in vanilla.  Add powdered sugar a little at a time, beating until smooth.

Spread on top of cooled cupcakes. Optionally, add ginger garnish, sprinkles, candy, chocolate shavings, or other seasonal toppings.