Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes!

We had a potluck at my new job to celebrate the end of training, and since I was in a pumpkiney mood, I decided to make pumpkin spice cupcakes for it! These were seriously the easiest cupcakes I've ever made.

I got started on Wednesday evening by making mini marzipan pumpkins as toppers. I've never worked with marzipan before, but this definitely won't be my last time. It was so easy to work with and smelled so good!

I baked the cupcakes Thursday evening. I love how they crackled on the tops, so pretty. They made the whole house smell heavenly, too. 

I filled the cupcakes with a squirt each of pumpkin butter on Thursday evening as well. I have a filling tip from Wilton that makes filling soooo easy. 

 

I frosted them all early Friday morning before work with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. I found the liners at Michael's, and they're by Martha Stewart. She has some awesome Halloween stuff. The "poison" liners have a skull image on the bottom of the cup, and the "beware" ones have spiders.

At the potluck. I displayed them on my Wilton cupcake stand with a big black charger plate underneath to hold the rest, since there were 24. 

These cupcakes were a huge hit and made me tons of new friends, haha. They were positively scrumptious as well! It was torture having to wait to eat them, since I was sitting near them and could smell them all day. I've already been asked by David's aunt to bring some to Thanksgiving dinner, though!

Easy Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

• 2 (18.25 oz) packages spice cake mix
• 1 (30 oz) can pumpkin pie filling
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp butter flavoring 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl for 2 minutes. Contents will be very thick. Line muffin tin with paper cups. Fill 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 24 minutes (or, if you're only doing one 12-cup tin at a time, about 10 minutes). Makes about two dozen, usually a little more. TIP: If you have extra batter but not enough to fill all the cups of the muffin tin, fill the remaining empty cups halfway with water. It helps the cupcakes to bake more evenly.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer in a bowl until smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar a little at a time until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and cinnamon; beat until fluffy.