Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Fall is here, hooray hooray! Of course, fall in Phoenix means it only heats up to 99° during the day. But the nights are wonderfully cool and I love thinking it's fall. Humor me, it's the best I can do living where I live.

Fall baking to me means all things pumpkin. I try to cram as much pumpkin into my baking between late September to the end of November as I possibly can without making myself sick. Well, I guess I am trying to make myself sick of pumpkin until next year.




Pumpkin Cupcakes
1 Duncan Hines Yellow cake mix
1 c solid pack pumpkin
4 eggs
1/3 c oil
1/2 c milk
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t ground ginger
1/8 t ground nutmeg
1/8 t ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350°. Line 2 muffin pans with 24 cupcake liners. Combine all ingredients in standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment and mix on medium high for 3 minutes. Divide evenly between cupcake pans.

Bake approximately 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Rotate pans half way through cooking time, if necessary. Remove cupcakes from pans to wire racks and cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 oz butter, softened
2 lb powdered sugar
1 T vanilla extract

Whip all ingredients until very smooth.