Delectables with Dan Presents: Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes!

Been a while since I've done a Delectables with Dan, hasn't it? I have a few spooky-themed and autumn-themed recipes coming up! Today we'll be doing pumpkin pie cupcakes! Who doesn't love a nice pumpkin pie as the weather cools? It's the best time of the year. There will be other vegan blogs coming soon, got some nice things in the works there as well, but with my other job and everything going on things have slowed down.
We're using some pumpkin puree from a tin, rather than a fresh pumpkin mainly on the interest of time. I'm busy, you're busy. Let's get down to business to bake up some autumn-filled goodness that you're gonna love.


WHAT YOU WILL NEED
1 box yellow cake mix
3/4 of a tin of pumpkin puree (small kind)
3/4 c. water
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon cloves
1 tub of vanilla icing (or home make your own)
autumn or Halloween themed sprinkles

I'd almost forgotten how I set up one of these things since it's been a while. My thoughts have been elsewhere. I've still been cooking but working on new recipe ideas both for my blog and bakery that I'm wanting to launch. Let's get started, shall we? Line the cupcake baking tray with Halloween or autumn-themed cupcake liners.
In a large mixing bowl, empty the cake mix in and the pumpkin puree. Add in your water, oil and spices. You can just buy allspice if you want, I knew how to make it so that's why I did it the way that I did. It honestly doesn't matter. Once you've done this, it's time to blend everything all together. On a low-medium speed on your electric mixer carefully blend all of your ingredients together. The batter will turn a light yellow-orange colour. That's exactly what you want. By the time they bake up, the cupcakes will more or less be the colour of a freshly baked pumpkin pie! I like to let the batter sit for a few minutes before ladeling it into the cups. Make sure that you do this evenly so that the cupcakes bake up evenly. You don't want some little overly baked ones and some giant semi-raw ones. Put your cupcakes into bake at 350F for 20-22 minutes. Make sure that all your cupcakes are baked before removing them from the oven. (I usually give an exact time but I'd had a little smokey smoke and forgot the exact time, but I know it was about 20 minutes.)

I was inspired to create these because I wanted something different than just spooky cupcakes and I thought it was a little too early to start making pumpkin pies. I figured why not make something autumn-themed rather than Halloween before I do a spooky baking thing?
While your cupcakes are baking, this is a great time to prepare your icing. You're going to need to allow about a half-hour of cooling time before you can start icing these little beauties. You're going to want to use a large star tip to do these. I mean, you could use a large round one, but where's the fun in that? Make sure that your icing is nice and smooth. Put the tip in the bag, make sure it's held in place nice, then fill the bag halfway with icing. You don't want too much in there because if you squeeze it with too much in there, it will come all over you. We're not looking for that to happen in the kitchen, now are we? Well, not at that exact moment. You've got work to do. There's always time for that later.
With a prepped icing bag and some cool cupcakes, it's time to ice them! You will start in the centre of the cupcake, working your way slowly around the top of the cupcake counterclockwise (or clockwise, your preference) to create a nice swirl of icing. Repeat the step with each cupcake until all of them are identical. Top with the autumn sprinkles. In this case, I used cute little autumn leaves sprinkles. I wanted a nice little pop of colour.