Dessert - Ginger Pumpkin Cupcakes!

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We made it through another week!  Hopefully this weekend will be full of fun and exciting things.  If I can't have that, then I would like a nice quiet weekend instead.

Just got back from taking care of my friends house while she is out of town.  Her cat cheeto is getting all sorts of attention since he is only getting it once a day.  Poor guy, he probably misses his mom.  Then again he is a cat,  so probably see's her more as a servant to do her bidding!  Silly kitties.

Not much to say tonight, apart from that everyone who had these cupcakes LOVED these cupcakes! Even people who don't normally like pumpkin or ginger!  So here is the recipe!  WARNING! the frosting is also addictive. This dessert requires some attention to detail,  but totally worth it!

3 bowls may be needed!  wet ingredients in the biggest! as that is where the rest ends up.

Ginger Pumpkin Cupcakes


2 cups all-purpose flour
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant butterscotch pudding mix (or the cook kind also works, it is the cornstarch and flavor that we are getting from this)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger (this was a chore to find,  but found some in the asian section of the super market)


1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree


Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Use paper cupcake liners. Whisk together the flour, pudding mix, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, cloves, and crystallized ginger in a bowl; set aside.
Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. The mixture should be noticeably lighter in color. Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the butter mixture before adding the next. Beat in the vanilla and pumpkin puree with the last egg. Stir in the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cups (about a 1/4 cup in each liner).  Bake in the preheated oven until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.


Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cups confectioners sugar
2 bricks cream cheese
1 stick butter
2 tsp vanilla extract

Let the cream cheese and butter sit out to get to room temperature.  Put the cream cheese bricks in and blend in the vanilla, then chuck up the butter and blend that in until completely mixed into a whipped state.  Start adding the sugar in a 1/2 cup at a time until it is all incorporated.

Let frosting chill while cupcakes are baking in fridge to help solidify a bit. Once the cupcakes are completely cooled down,  the quickest way to frost them is to simply dip them into the frosting, and pull out straight up and give it a little twist at the end.  They come out uniform and pretty!