PUMPKIN CUPCAKES with MAPLE-CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

All right, dear readers. I'm not the biggest fan of pumpkin, but Jessica's pumpkin dream cake on The Novice Chef kind of made my mouth water, particularly the cream cheese frosting with maple syrup and cinnamon.

The cake is moist and dense, and it's really perfect with cream cheese frosting. However, if you're in it for the pumpkin, you should know the pumpkin flavor in these cakes is pretty faint. Just enough, and fantastic with the flavors in the frosting.

I'd planned to fill all of the cakes with the frosting (and not frost on top), but I got half way through the minis and stopped because the cake was a little too dense to fill by inserting a tip. So for the ones you see not frosted on top, I cut a conical chunk out of the top, filled it with frosting, and replaced the cone of cake.

As you can see, it looked pretty messy, so I ended up just frosting the rest.

Happy, fall, dear readers. Enjoy!

PUMPKIN CUPCAKES with MAPLE-CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

taken directly from Jessica's pumpkin dream cake over at The Novice Chef, except for the assembly/baking time

Cakes:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk

Frosting:
12 oz (1 1/2 packages) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon
6 cups powdered sugar

In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl/stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla, pumpkin and vegetable oil. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the milk.

Bake at 300°F - standard for 18-20 minutes, mini for 12 - 14 minutes.

For the frosting: In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in maple syrup, vanilla and cinnamon. Add confectioners' sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high until frosting is smooth.