Ginger Pumpkin Cupcakes (Cupcake Hero)

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Ginger Pumpkin Cupcakes (Cupcake Hero)

This month’s Cupcake Hero theme is Squash. Luckily pumpkin is considered a squash. That makes my day because I do love baking with pumpkin!

I had some leftover Pumpkin Pie Dip from the other day and I wanted to incorporate it into a cupcake. I wanted to make a cupcake that would compliment the pumpkin well, so I thought of the ginger snaps I had served the dip with… I reused a cookies and cream cupcake recipe except instead of using Oreos, I added crushed up ginger snap cookies to the batter. These smelled amazing coming out of the oven.

Using the cone method, I scooped some of the pumpkin dip into the cooled cupcakes. I then frosted with some cinnamon cream cheese frosting that I had in the fridge. Then I simply sprinkled some chopped walnuts on top for garnish.

Cookies-N-Cream Cupcakes – 6 WW pts with frosting (from Crazy about Cupcakes) makes 24
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup milk – I used soymilk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature

1 cup chocolate sandwich cookies, lightly crushed – I used 2 cups crushed Ginger Snaps

Preheat over to 350F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.

In a large bowl cream together the butter, milk, and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until integrated. Stir in sugar. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat for 30 seconds. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg whites. Beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in the crushed cookies.

Fill the cupcake lines three-quarters full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

For the frosting, I wanted it to be more like a glaze, so I combined 8 oz cream cheese, 6 Tbsp unsalted butter, 1 tsp vanilla and about 3 cups of powdered sugar. After it was to the consistency I wanted, I added about a teaspoon of cinnamon.

Cupcakes, Dessert

2 comments »

13 Responses to “Pumpkin Cranberry Pecan Upside Down Cake”

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Sarah — November 24, 2010 at 4:58 pm

This is the perfect recipe for all of the leftover ingredients I have! Hubby made me buy a 3-pound bag of cranberries because he loves them, but you only use 12 ounces for cranberry sauce so I’ve got about 2 pounds of cranberries left to use, plus lots of pumpkins and pecans. This is definitely being made this weekend!
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Megan — November 24, 2010 at 5:18 pm

Oh man. That does sound good. And I know it must be if you’re repeating it because I am the same way. I’m going to make a cranberry maple pecan cake on Friday… but this is really tempting too.

Happy Thanksgiving!
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Stephanie — November 24, 2010 at 5:55 pm

Oh, man! If I only had more time for Thanksgiving dessert table – this is certainly one I would try.
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We Are Not Martha — November 24, 2010 at 5:58 pm

Oooh this cake looks so ooey gooey and delicious! I wish there weren’t already so many desserts coming to my Thanksgiving table because I’d totally make this!

Sues
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Fun and Fearless in Beantown — November 24, 2010 at 6:02 pm

This looks super delicious and your photos look great too! Happy Thanksgiving to you and hubby!
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Shannon — November 25, 2010 at 3:48 pm

ooooh, my, i must try this 🙂 happy thanksgiving!!
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Nutmeg Nanny — November 28, 2010 at 10:14 pm

What a fabulous recipe! All the flavors sound delicious to me.
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Shandra — November 29, 2010 at 4:45 am

This looks amazing! It looks so moisty yum, I should try to make this sometime, Love your blog! this is my first comment for you so I thought I’d show some appreciation for your blog, because I’ve been drooling over all your recipes for a while
Shandra-http://shandrita.tumblr.com/
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"pup" — November 29, 2010 at 1:13 pm

Your photos are beautiful! The pictures I took of the actual cake didn’t look to appealing, the photos I took of the bite sized cake bites looked pretty though lol
Good job!!
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freefoodboston — December 1, 2010 at 3:21 pm

What a great recipe! You totally had me at caramel/pecan/cranberry topping.
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Sophie — January 1, 2011 at 3:14 am

Just finally made this cake and it is astoundingly good! Truly the best dessert I’ve had in…oh, a very long time. Thank you for your post!
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Nancy Blume-Watson — November 30, 2013 at 1:57 pm
I tried to be good, I really did! This cake was so delicious, I not only had seconds, I had a piece for breakfast the next day and for a snack later that day. This one goes on my Christmas menu!
- beantownbaker — December 1st, 2013 @ 6:52 pm
  
  I doubled the recipe this time and you’ll remember the middle didn’t quite bake through. It also spilled over a bit, so next time, I’ll put a pan under the cake in the oven.