Happy Thanksgiving! Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

Hope all you Americans out there enjoyed Thanksgiving yesterday.  We had a nice thanksgiving meal here in Turks and Caicos - you can read about it on my other blog 

I had seen these amazing pumpkin pie cupcakes a few weeks ago and decided they would be my cupcake of choice to bake come Thanksgiving.  So I ordered the piping nozzle I needed to make that pie crust and bought some fun Thanksgiving cupcake liners online in the States, unfortunately my nozzle didn't arrive in time! I also couldn't get the deep orange hue in my frosting that I needed and so unfortunately this is how the pumpkin pie cupcakes turned out: 

Yes I know they look more like sun's! I should have just pretended that's what I was aiming for in the first place! but they were deliciously tasty thanks to this recipe from Martha.

If you want to see what I have been thankful for this week you can check it out here, but yesterday I was thankful for good neighbours...who were able to lend an egg in the midst of my cupcake baking when I dropped my last one on the floor! 

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes:

Makes 18

• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree
• • 
    
• • Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.
• • • 
      
• • • In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin puree.
• • • 
      
• • • Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.
• • 
    
    Vanilla Frosting:
    Taken from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
    
    
    250g icing sugar, sifted
    80g unsalted butter, at room temperature
    25ml whole milk
    a couple of drops of vanilla extract
    
    
    Beat the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding mixer with a paddle attachment on medium slow speed until the mixture comes together.
    
    
    Turn the mixer down to slow speed.  Mix the milk and vanilla together in a bowl and add to the mixer a spoonful at a time.  Once everything has been incorporated turn the mixer up to high speed.
    
    
    Continue beating for at least 5 minutes until the frosting is light and fluffy.