Our cupcake contributor, Lauren of Crave. Indulge. Satisfy, is helping us transition from Halloween to Thanksgiving!  And she’s bringing along the pumpkins…

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, it’s the perfect time to start thinking about a special dessert to accompany your big turkey feast!  During the fall my pantry is always stocked full of pumpkin as my go to ingredient.  I have about 12 cans on hand right now!  Pumpkin is such a great ingredient that can be used in a variety of recipes.  So this year, why not branch out from the standard pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread and mix up a batch of Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting.  I guarantee all of your turkey day guests will just gobble these right up!

These pumpkin cupcakes are smacked full of fall flavors featuring cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.  The cupcakes are paired with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting which is the perfect compliment to the cinnamon flavor in the cakes. I guarantee you won’t just be eating one of these at a time. Afterall, Thanksgiving is a time to indulge in all your favorite foods…so save room for dessert!

If you are worried about having too many things to whip up for your holiday meal, these cupcakes are super moist and can be made a day ahead of time. I do recommend waiting to make the icing until the day you plan to serve.  I love how you can see the specs of cinnamon throughout the icing, not to mention the taste is amazing!  I hope you are inspired to try these Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese this year!

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese
(makes 30 cupcakes)

For the cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin pans with cupcake liners.
2. In large bowl combine dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
3. In bowl of stand mixer cream butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until creamy.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add dry ingredients and milk, alternating until well combined. Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.
6. Mix in pumpkin puree.
7. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter.
8. Bake for 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
9. Let cupcakes cool in pans for 5 minutes, then remove to wire racks to finish cooling.
10. Once cupcakes are completely cool frost with Cinnamon Cream Cheese icing.

For the icing:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

1. In bowl of stand mixer beat butter and cream cheese on medium speed until well combined.
2. Gradually add in confectioner’s sugar one cup at a time, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.
3. Add vanilla and cinnamon and mix until combined.
4. Place icing in piping bag fitted with a large round tip and frost cupcakes.

Hope you enjoy this pumpkin inspired recipe! Wishing you and your family a wonderful holiday season!

	Lauren is a regular contributor for Half Baked. She is a self-taught baker and lover of all things sugar. Read more about Lauren on her bio page.

Well hello there again everyone!  This is Jessica Kirkland from Pen N’ Paperflowers Studio and Design… back for another little bit of guest blogging for Carrie here at Half Baked.  (You might remember the needle felted acorn tutorial I shared here last Fall?)

I’m honored to have been asked by Carrie to put together a post for you showcasing The Pastry Pedestal™ – a patent-pending mechanism I designed to creatively display petite pastries of all types.  Since launching The Pastry Pedestal™ in May, we have shipped them to over 12 different countries and have sold out completely on two separate occasions.  It’s been an exciting adventure to say the least and I’d like to share with you today just what they are all about and how easy they are to use.

My very favorite component of The Pastry Pedestal™ is the fact that you can personalize them for ANY event you are having simply by adding a 2.75″ round decorative paper to the underside of the lucite round.  Not only that…you can also get even more creative by adding decorative beading or trim to the edge of the round for added dimension and that extra “wow” factor.

Today, I chose to show you a super easy way to create a centerpiece using The Pastry Pedestal Starter Kit™.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• brown paper bag
• sugar
• 2.75″ round circle punch (if you want a to personalize The Pastry Pedestal™)
• Decorative Paper Rounds (Halloween printables found here or just use scrapbooking paper, cardstock or wrapping paper you have on hand)
• 1 Small Bag of orange Sixlets (I picked mine up from JoAnn Fabric & Crafts)
• fabric or ribbon of choice
• cupcake or pastry of choice
• The Pastry Pedestal™ Starter Kit

Instructions:

1. Take your flat brown paper bag and rip the top portion of the bag off. (approx. 2.5″ piece) No need to be careful.
2. Open your torn brown bag
3. Crumple the torn brown bag into a tight small ball. The more wrinkled it looks – the more old it will appear and we are going for a vintage-creepy Halloween look for this centerpiece.
4. Open the now-wrinkled bag and fold over the top edge of the bag about 1 or 2 inches.
5. Fill wrinkled brown bag with sugar almost to the top. (leave about 1 inch for step 6)
6. Top sugar with orange sixlets to cover sugar completely.

Now you need to prepare your pastries for placing on The Pastry Pedestal™.  {TIP: Chilled pastries are easier to work with.}  I chose to use mini chocolate peanut butter cupcakes (go here for the recipe).

1. Pierce the bottom of the cupcake or pastry of choice using a toothpick or wooden skewer.  You’ll only need to insert it about one 1/2 inch into the bottom and then remove.
2. With The Pastry Pedestal™ already assembled, the pre-pierced cupcake is ready to be mounted onto the The Pastry Pedestal™ where it will sit securely.
3. With the cupcake in place, insert the rod of The Pastry Pedestal™ into the sugar filled, candy-topped brown bag.
4. Repeat this process until you have a “bouquet” of mini cupcakes.
5. Finish the centerpiece off by tying a decorative piece of fabric or ribbon around it.

It’s super cute and SO easy.

Don’t have a brown paper bag at home?  How about recycling a tin can and using the same process. (I used a large recycled crushed tomato can).

You can also switch up the decorative paper rounds underneath to change up your theme.  I decided to use some lined kraft-like wrapping paper I already had from a previous Rustic Popcorn Bar photo shoot in which I had displayed popcorn balls on The Pastry Pedestal™.  Changing up the paper gives the overall display more of a Fall-feel and then I simply wrapped my tin can with a strip of burlap.

I also swapped out the mini cupcakes for regular sized cupcakes just to show you the difference in the displays you can achieve.  However, mini cupcakes are one of my favorite things to display on The Pastry Pedestal™.  So I changed the finished look again by removing the burlap from around the tin can and using a Fall-festive scrap of fabric instead. (replacing the regular cupcakes with my favorite minis).

No time for baking?  I’ve got you covered!  There are many prepackaged commercial items that work well with The Pastry Pedestal™ .  For instance, these Oreo Cakesters were SO easy and perfect for a Halloween centerpiece.

I hope you’re inspired to try out this simple centerpiece idea – and if you do, I hope you’ll come back here and share your results.

Check out The Pastry Pedestal™ Facebook Fan Page for ongoing styling ideas…a lot of which are from creative customers showcasing the creative things they’ve done using this versatile and innovative way to creatively display your petite pastries.  There are also how-to videos on the website as well as ordering information for those of you that just HAVE to have these for your next event. *wink*

Hope you all are inspired…

Thanks for inviting me to guest-blog for you Carrie…it’s always a pleasure and an honor!!

My family and I are on the move this week.  Literally moving across the country!  While we pack, load and spend way too many hours in a car over the next few days… some very talented ladies will stop in with guest posts!  Our friend Brittany over at Edible Details has created a frightfully fun Halloween tutorial for us today.  In a few simple steps, your ordinary cupcake will be mummified!  Another great way to spook up your Halloween treats that’s quick, easy and fun for all.  Check out these super cute, Pudgy Mummy Cupcakes!

Pudgy Mummy Cupcakes

Tools:
Cupcake & Icing
Piping Bag with Large Round Tip
White & Black Fondant
Rolling Pin
Knife

Instructions:

1. Using a thicker icing (about the consistency of Creamy Peanut butter) Pipe 2 “Dollops” of icing onto your cupcake. (This as is would be a great base to turn into some cute ghosts!)
2. Roll fondant out to about 8″ long and about the thickness of a toothpick.
3. Cut fondant into strips and wrap around your icing. Let the ends fall below the icing line and leave the little icing curl exposed at the top for added cuteness!  NOTE: Be sure to leave an open patch of icing in the middle for the mummy’s eyes.
4. For the Mummy Hands: Roll out 3/4″ long balls of fondant and cut 3-4 slits into the fondant to create fingers.
5. Press hands into the icing below the wraps.
6. Make two little beady eyes out of the black fondant and place on the exposed icing.

Your mummy is ready for the party!  A huge thank you to Brittany at Edible Details for creating such a fun tutorial for us!  Hope you enjoy her super cute, Pudgy Mummy Cupcakes this Halloween!  You can see more of Brittany’s edible fondant creations on the Edible Details Website and FaceBook Page.