Birthday Celebrations

I am a big fan of celebrating birthdays, whether it's mine, a family member, or a good friend.  I especially like celebrating birthdays surrounded by good food and drink, and of course dessert!  There's something special about gathering your closest friends and family to celebrate another year gone by.  Is it just me or does every year seem to go by faster than the year prior?!  Each year is filled with good times as well as a few bad but it's always nice to look back on the good times and be grateful for what we have.

This past Friday we celebrated my friend Sara's birthday at Nolen Kitchen, Sara's favorite restaurant as well as mine.  You can always count on Nolen for great food, service, and a fun atmosphere.  Surrounded by her family and friends we toasted another year gone by for Sara.  Sara is a big fan of fall as well as anything pumpkin so I decided to make Pumpkin Cupcakes for her birthday dessert.  After filling ourselves on appetizers and entrees I wasn't sure if we would have room for dessert but we all made room for just one cupcake, two for some.  It was the perfect way to top off her birthday and the end of fall.

This was the first time I had tried this recipe.  I pulled it from one of the blogs I follow, Smitten Kitchen, whom I can always count on for a good recipe.  What's unique about this recipe is the special ingredient, black pepper.  It doesn't stand out like you would think but instead it blends well with the other spices creating a cupcake bursting with the taste of fall. If you don't know what fall tastes like then I highly recommend you bake a batch of these ASAP.  You are truly missing out!  So without further ado here is the recipe for Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

The Guest of Honor with her Birthday Cupcake!

Pumpkin Cupcakes With Maple–Cream Cheese Frosting
Taken from Smitten Kitchen
Yield: 17 to 18 cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup firmly packed dark-brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup low fat buttermilk mixed with 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin

Frosting:

• Two (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened (I used low fat cream cheese)
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup (I used 1/3 cup)

Directions:

Cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.  Line a cupcake pan with 18 liners.
2. In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper into a medium bowl.
3. Add the eggs 1 at a time to the mixer, scraping down the sides after each addition. Alternate adding the flour and milk mixtures, beginning and ending with the flour. Beat in the pumpkin until smooth.
4. Scoop the batter among the cupcake liners — you’re looking to get them 3/4 full. Rap the filled pans once on the counter to release any air bubbles. Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on racks completely.

Frosting:

1. In a stand mixer beat all the ingredients on medium until fluffy.  Add more maple syrup to taste if needed.
2. Frost or decorate cupcakes as you like.

Optional:

1. To make Sara's cupcakes extra special I used dark chocolate candy melts to create S's for the top of the cupcakes.  They are very easy to make and for a quick how-to check out this link.

Mary Katherine, Me, Laura, and of course Nick!

The guys enjoying the cupcakes.

The Chidester's