Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

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Yum, yum, yum! My company had an autumn lunch a few weeks ago and we were all supposed to bring something. I decided to go all out. I found a delicious pumpkin cupcake recipe and made minor adjustments. These have a whole can of pumpkin puree in them and they are so moist. Much better, in my opinion, than a box of cake. Everyone was so impressed that the cupcakes were actually pumpkin flavored, not just decorated. These would be a great fall centerpiece also for a dinner or gathering. This way, you don't have to buy expensive decorations! I left a few unfrosted at the house and the Mr. and I ate them as muffins. Give these cuties a try.

Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

I used three different sizes of cupcakes tins, jumbo, regular and mini. This recipe made 4 jumbo, 10 regular and 20 mini cupcakes. You could do less of one and more of another. You could also just do regular size cupcakes if you do not have the other pans and you do not want to invest in them. 

Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

Ingredients:

3 cups of all- purpose flour

1 T pumpkin pie spice

2 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 C sugar

1/2 C vegetable oil

1/4 C un-sweetened apple sauce

1/2 C buttermilk

1 15oz can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)

4 eggs

Decorations: 

Frosting

Orange food coloring (or red and yellow, mixed)

Orange sanding sugar

Pretzel sticks

Green Twizzlers

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tins with cupcake liners. 

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder and salt together until well blended. In a large bowl, beat sugar, oil, apple sauce, buttermilk, pumpkin puree and eggs together until well incorporated. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir to combine. 

Divide the batter into cupcake liners, filling about 2/3 full.

Bake about 13 minutes for the minis, 19 minutes for the regulars and 27 minutes for the jumbo or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Now for some fun! Color the frosting with food coloring until it is the desired color orange. Frost the cupcakes and set aside, making sure to save a small amount of frosting for piping the lines on the pumpkins. Pour the sanding sugar into a bowl. ( I was not able to find orange sanding sugar in my grocery store so I had to go to Williams-Sonoma).

 Roll the tops of the cupcakes in the sanding sugar to coat. To make the lines on the pumpkins, take a toothpick and press the sides of the sugared cupcake. Place remaining orange frosting in a small zip-lock bag or piping bag. Use either a small tip, or cut a VERY small hole in the corner of the zip-lock bag. Pipe the frosting over the lines made with the toothpick. For the stems, you can either use pretzel sticks, or green Twizzlers or some of both. Cut the Twizzlers into small pieces and place in the middle of the pumpkins.

 

For the little green vines, I used a green Laffy Taffy. I tore a small piece off and rolled it on a cutting board until it was a long and stretchy. I just twirled them around my finger and stuck one end into the top of the pumpkins.

 I obviously could not bring my kitchen table to the office, so I made a mini pumpkin patch on a cake plate. Here was my masterpiece. :) Make sure you have plenty of candy corn and candy corn pumpkins to complete the decoration.

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