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Monday 27 June 2011

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

6 comments:

Adura O. said...

LOL @ your friend's responses to you!

BEAUTIFUL!!!!

PS I'm expecting my birthday delivery at midnight today... dont' forget o!

N.I.L (Naijamum in London) said...

I loved your friend's answe ...LOL

These cakes look too good to eat...Seriously, they should be displayed as art.

Good job

Unknown said...

The cupcake looks so good, I just want to save it and not eat it. Your roses are so perfect!

Ms Afropolitan said...

Wao. They really are too pretty.

Thanks for the lesson in child-feeding, I wouldn't have known either ;O)

I wonder when the first anonymous twitter addiction groups will pop up....lol

Anonymous said...

Hii, what frosting tip did you use to do the cupcake decorations and when did you get it it from? They look goooooorg!

Unknown said...

Hi @anonymous, sorry for the delayed reply! It is the Wilton 1M decorating tip (it is an open star tip) starting the piping at the middle of the cupcake and outwards in a circle to form the rose shape.
I hope this helps!