Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple-Cream Cheese Frosting

Once again... Smitten Kitchen has melted my insides.... this woman makes me want to spend spend spend on a new kitchen and cook cook cook bake bake bake until I am blue in the face.  And it is all worth it, once you eat the food she blogs about.

Here is one of the entries from October.  I made them the other night and they were more of a hit then I could have imagined.  YUMMIEST things ever.  

If you like pumpkin that is.

Pumpkin Cupcake with Maple-Cream Cheese Frosting:

From - David Leite (found on Smitten Kitchen's blog)

1 stick butter, room temp.

1 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper (I used a little less... but I am sure you could use it all.)

2 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk mixed with:

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/4 cups canned solid-packed pumpkin

Maple-cream cheese frosting:

two 8 ounce packages of cream cheese

softened 1 stick unsalted butter (I used salted... I never like unsalted butter) 

2 cups powder sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350*.  Line pan with cupcake holders

Mix butter and sugars until fluffy.  In another bowl sift flour and all ingred. except the last four (seen above).

Add eggs 1 at a time to the butter/sugar mix, scrap down sides after each addition.  Add buttermilk and vanilla.  Mix.  Alternate adding flour mix and milk mix, beginning with flour and ending with flour mix.  Mix in pumpkin until smooth.  Fill cupcake holders 3/4 full.

Bake for about 16-22 min.  (check center with toothpick)  I baked for about 21 min.

Mix frosting all together and put on top of cool cupcakes (they just have to be cool enough that frosting won't melt off).

Yields:  18 cupcakes...