Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes!

I absolutely love the fact that living in LA gives me the opportunity to take weekend getaways to San Francisco or San Diego anytime I feel the need of a new change of scenery. It feels so refreshing and relaxing!

Before I left this weekend, I had the chance to bake something up in my kitchen. Lately, I've been struggling for a few weeks to find a fantastic recipe that is perfect for Fall. I flipped through all of my books and magazines, trying to find some sort of inspiration but came up short handed. Nothing was clicking until I found a recipe online that proved to be just what I was looking for! Just my luck :)

Of course it's a take after the Pumpkin Spice Latte drink at Starbucks, how awesome is that?

Here is the recipe below courtesy of, Annie's Eats. Thanks so much!

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes:

Makes about 2 dozen cupcakes.

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

2 and 2/3 cups of regular all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons of espresso powder (Can be found @Ralphs!)

2 teaspoons of baking soda

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon of grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves

1 teaspoon of salt

1 (15 ounce) can of pumpkin puree

1 cup of white granulated sugar

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup of vegetable oil

4 large eggs at room temperature

For the Whipped Cream Frosting:

2 and 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream (chilled)

1/4 cup of confectioners sugar

To garnish:

Caramel Topping

Ground Cinnamon

To make the cupcakes: First preheat your oven to 350 Degrees F and line your cupcake/muffin tins.

In a bowl combine the first 8 ingredients and set aside. Using a electric mixer combine the wet ingredients: pumpkin puree (I used Libby's), white and brown sugar, and veggie oil. Add one egg at a time until each egg is fully incorporated into the mixture. Next, add your dry ingredients in two parts.

Fill your cupcake/muffin tins about 2/3rds full and bake for 18-20 minutes. Use a toothpick to test for doneness. Let the cupcakes cool in tins for about 10 minutes, then remove them from tins and put them on a cooling rack.

For the whipped cream frosting, use the whisk attachment and beat on medium speed, slowly increase to high speed when mixture gets frothy. Slowly add the confectioners sugar until stiff peaks form. You may use a pastry tip to frost the whipped cream or just dollop in on with a large spoon. Sprinkle your cinnamon and drizzle your caramel sauce with a spoon (in a zig zag motion). Cupcakes should be refrigerated overnight and brought out to room temperature before serving. 

Enjoy!

The cupcakes are moist, really easy to make, and a super crowd pleaser. This goes on my list for the Thanksgiving treats I am going to make! 

There is nothing like Fall...

Fall is lingering in the air. With the nice warm sunny days and cold crisp nights. Which I absolutely love, love, love!

This past weekend I had a craving to make something that was absolute perfect fall deliciousness. Well nothing says it better than than a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten!

A recipe found on the link here.

The pumpkin cake itself smelled amazing coming out of the oven. It rises beautifully and makes about 10-11 small cupcakes. These would also be great mini-cupcakes for a great breakfast treat. What's interesting about this cupcake is that it doesn't involve the creaming of the sugar and butter (a typical cupcake base for most recipes). For the Maple Frosting, I just used some maple extract (the generic, cheaper kind of course) but I'm betting that you can use a teaspoon of maple syrup and it'll taste just as delicious! I also increased the cream cheese dose to the typical 8oz package, and the butter to 4 tablespoons which was just as creamy. As for the c.sugar its all up to your taste buds! Cheers.

I also made some chocolate chip cookies with reeses pieces! Now all you need is a glass of milk right? :)

.....

Weeks ago, I saw a really cute mickey mouse cupcake picture on pinterest.com and decided to replicate it (without actually having to create the mouse entirely made of fondant/gum paste). Great idea for a gift don't you think? So the perfect shape for the ears is a giant pastry tip-- not the plastic kind since it makes it harder to cut out perfect circles. I also decided to use red paper liners, but ended up making my own using red construction paper from a template I found online (click here for template)  Thanks to, lovelypapershop.blogspot.com!

Have a great last week of October everyone! Halloween is next week! Get excited :)