Pumpkin Cupcakes with Brown Butter Frosting

To set the scene for today's post, I must tell you two very important things about me.

1. I am addicted to Twitter
2. I know very little about children. In my defence, I just don't have very many in my life. Please do take this as a HUGE hint my married sister and friends :)

So when I invited a friend and her two kids over for lunch one Sunday after church, I had a bit of a dilemma. And naturally, as with all important life decisions, I decided to ask for help on Twitter.  Here is the conversation I had with one particularly helpful friend of mine.


Me: Forgive my ignorance but do kids eat the same food as full grown people??
T: No. They eat specially created food from specially created specialist children's shops
Me: Dammit. That's what I was afraid of. Where are these shops ;p
T: There is one near Hogwarts and another half way up Jack's beanstalk. Next to the pub called the white nosed rhino.
Me: Hogwarts is way too far. I might have to feed these kids some adult food. Thanks for your help though!


To this day, I can't rid myself of the niggling feeling that he was mocking me. So yeah, thanks for nothing Trey! 
All by myself, I came up with a menu of meatballs cooked in tomato sauce in the oven with pasta, salad and these cupcakes for dessert.


It all went down pretty well even if I do say so myself. The kids wanted to come round again the following Sunday. That's good huh? But I think the highlight were these cupcakes. Yum! The cake itself is moist, soft and not too sweet at all! And the frosting ... wow! Brown butter frosting is a revelation. It tastes ... it's difficult to describe the taste, it's a fusion of subtle spice and it's a bit nutty and a bit caramelly and a whole lot of incredible! Thank you Brandy for submitting this recipe to 'Frosting for the Cause'!

Makes 20 cupcakes


Ingredients - for the Pumpkin Cupcakes


1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
113g unsalted butter, softened
2 cups plain flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree (In the UK, you can buy this in Waitrose)


1 - Preheat oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4 / 350F
2 - Combine the dry ingredients (Except for the sugar) together in a bowl
3 - Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy; about 4 minutes
4 - Add eggs one at a time, beating for one minute after each addition
5 - Add the flour mixture, milk and pumpkin in the following order - 1/3 flour, milk, 1/3 flour, pumpkin, last 1/3 flour - mixing after each addition until just combined. Scrape the bowl after the last addition of flour to make sure all the ingredients are well combined
6 - Line the cupcake tins with liners and fill each liner until 2/3 full with the batter. 

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

7 - Leave cupcakes to cook on a rack and make the browned butter frosting in the meantime


Ingredients - Browned Butter Frosting
1 cup of brown butter (Instructions to make follow)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup of whipping or double cream (more can be used depending on the consistency you want)


To make the brown butter
1 - Start with 1 cup of unsalted butter, cut into chunks. Put it in a small saucepan and boil on medium low heat until it slowly cooks and boils and results in a golden/brown colour

2 - Let the brown butter cool. Once cooled add to the mixer with the cinnamon and vanilla. Mix until just combined
3 - Add the icing sugar one cup at at time. Once it is all added, it will be very dry and crumbly
4 - Add the whipping cream while mixing on low until combined and smooth - about 4-5 minutes. If still too thick to frost, add whipping cream one tablespoon at a time till you reach your desired consistency

5 - Frost cupcakes