Pinterest Recipe Tuesday: Pumpkin Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream

I love pumpkin and this past Fall there must have been hundreds if not thousands of pins with pumpkin in them showing up in my daily feed on Pinterest.

I pinned a few and this is the first one that I tried and not only was it easy, it was beyond delicious. In fact between my littles and hubby the first half dozen were gone as fast as I could ice them.



I got the recipe from here.

Ingredients: 

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 (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment (if you have one, if not a mixing bowl and a hand mixer will do just fine), combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Beat on medium until well combined. Slowly start to add the dry ingredients, and mix on low until smooth. Fold in pumpkin puree.

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. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.



And while she does provide a recipe for homemade caramel I chose to go with the alternative of using a favourite caramel sauce as I already had it on hand. Next time, I will try and make the Caramel Sauce from scratch.

Salted Caramel Buttercream

Ingredients:

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons water

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 stick salted butter

1 stick unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

In a saucepan, stir together granulated sugar and water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cook without stirring until mixture turns a deep amber color, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and slowly add in cream and vanilla, stirring until very smooth. Let caramel cool for about 20 minutes, until it is just barely warm and still pourable. Alternatively, you could use just under 1/2 cup of your favorite caramel sauce.

In a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and salt together until lightened and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add powdered sugar. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the caramel. Beat on medium high speed until light and airy, and completely mixed (about 2 minutes). Mixture should be ready to use without refrigeration. If your caramel was too hot when added, it will cause your icing to be runny. If this happens refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.

Needless to say they were a tasty treat and I plan making them again.