WB Challenge #1: Spice Cupcakes with Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

Earlier this month a group of ladies from the cooking message board I frequent banded together to form a little baking challenge group, and the first theme for the What’s Baking? ladies was Fall Cupcakes.  I was thrilled to have a little inspiration to kick my butt back into the kitchen, not to mention my eagerness to see what the other creative participants come up with.

My mind raced with possibilities – pumpkin, sweet potato, maple, brown sugar, cranberry, blackberry, apple, caramel, cinnamon, filling or not? whipped cream or cream cheese frosting? – and narrowing it down was certainly a challenge!  I wanted something fun and something I haven’t made before, but the options were still endless.

I finally settled on a spice cake, one of my childhood favorites, topped with pumpkin cream cheese frosting.  The cupcakes came together easily, but the frosting was another story.  Between the cream cheese, butter and canned pumpkin, the frosting made for a soupy mess.  By the time I added enough confectioners’ sugar to thicken it up, you couldn’t taste the pumpkin anymore.  So I added more, it got soupy again, and round-and-round we went until there was so much frosting in my mixer bowl that I was about to be covered in it.

It went down the garbage disposal.

I tried again the next day and put together a simple cream cheese frosting with some pumpkin pie spice added to liven it up a bit.  I was sad about the lack of pumpkin, but oh boy is the end result tasty!

Spice Cake
Adapted from About.com

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup butter, soft
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups buttermilk (I used a substitution of 1 T vinegar+1 1/4 cups milk allowed to sit for 5 minutes before use)

Preheat oven to 350 and line cupcake tins with liners. In a medium bowl, sift together first 8 ingredients, whisk together, and set aside.

In the bowl of your mixer (or in a large mixing bowl), cream butter. Add brown sugar and granulated sugar, mixing until combined. Add vanilla and then eggs, one at a time, allowing to mix thoroughly before continuing. Beat on high for 5 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl often.

Add the sifted dry ingredients and buttermilk, alternating dry-wet-dry, just until smooth.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until lightly browned and a tester comes out clean. Allow to cool in pans for 5 minutes then remove to a cooling rack until completely cooled.

Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

1 package cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
~4 cups confectioners’ sugar

Cream butter and cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy. Incorporate vanilla and pumpkin pie spice, then begin adding confectioners’ sugar 1 cup at a time until desired consistency is reached. Scrape sides often.