This month's Martha Stewart Cupcakes recipe was selected by Kim at What the Whisk. We baked the Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes on p. 236.
I was admittedly excited to try these cupcakes. First of all, marzipan scares the crap out of me, and this time I let the fear win. When I saw the picture of Martha's cupcakes, the first thing I thought of was one of my favorite Halloween treats - Mellowcreme Pumpkins. So, yes, I cheated, and planned to use Mellowcreme Pumpkins on my cupcakes. Sue me. Then I promptly forgot to put the damn pumpkins on the cupcakes before my little photo session. So imagine a Mellowcreme Pumpkin atop this lovely cupcake.
The batter for this recipe was really easy to put together - no muss, no fuss. Nothing too complicated, although I did halve the recipe, and double-checked my math no less than 3 times before I let myself get started (I've gotten burned too many times by halving recipes!). I do think that the cupcakes should have cooked perhaps a minute longer than they did - they felt especially spongy after cooling off fully. Speaking of which, does anyone really turn out their cupcakes the way Martha says to? Whenever I try this method, my cupcakes either totally fall apart, or they stick to my countertop. Any advice? Tips? Tricks? I usually wind up using a knife to try my cupcakes out of the pans.
I did taste these, which is especially daring for me, because I'm not a pumpkin fan (nor am I a big fan of spice cake). I didn't despise the taste, but I also didn't love them. I didn't feel compelled to to eat an entire cupcake. This is precisely why I have an impartial taste tester, who loves spice cakes and anything pumpkin to determine how they were. Husband said the flavor was awfully tasty and the cupcakes were super moist. He likened them to pumpkin pie in a cupcake, although the cream cheese frosting didn't exactly evoke the whole pumpkin pie flavor. He did say that these are another "muff-cake," just like the Banana Pecan Cupcakes and Zucchini Spice Cupcakes.
I strongly considered making a different frosting for these cupcakes, because this would be the third time I've made Martha's cream cheese frosting - not to say that I don't enjoy the cream cheese frosting, it just kind of gets tiring to make the same frosting over and over and over. But I only thought about it briefly before remembering that I had bought all that I needed for cream cheese frosting, so I stuck with it.
Next month, we'll be doing Candied Sweet Potato Cupcakes, I'm very curious about those, given that I've never heard of a sweet potato cupcake. It will be interesting, I'm sure! Stay tuned for more Martha Stewart Cupcakes adventures!
15 comments:
My boys love cupcakes! Martha always does wonderful anything! You kids will have a great treat today! Have a wonderful day:)
I wonder if the would taste even more pumpkin pieish if you popped some coolwhip or similar on them just before serving? I've never had pumpkin muffins... hmmmmmmmmmm.
I've been making apple muffins a lot lately and they are great for filling up lunchbags.
I loved these. I always end up baking mine longer than Martha says. As for getting them out of the pan, I use a silicone muffin pan and I use cupcake papers, so it works out easily.
A muff-cake? Sounds like a perfect description of these.
I agree that too much of the same frosting is a bad thing, which is why I used lemon icing on mine. Delicious!
These were a bit muffiny. I'm sorry you are not a fan of pumpkin. At least you didn't hate it though. I'm glad your husband liked them. Thanks for baking along with me this month.
Oh I don't think you can have too much of that cream cheese frosting!
So funny how many people don't like pumpkin! I'm glad you made them though. I'm curious about next months selection too.
Your cupcake looks great even with the imaginary mellowcreme pumkins on top!!!
your cupcake looks great!! Glad your husband enjoyed these!! i loved them as well!!!
These look lovely! I love cupcakes!
And that's not my daughter in the pictures--it was my sister! :)
i wanted a different frosting for this too, so i created a pumpkin swiss meringue buttercream. it was delicious and went perfect with these cupcakes! come to my blog to check out the recipe. =)
MMMMMM....LOVE pumpkin anything! These sound delish!!
Thanks for stopping by on my SITS day!! =)
I hear you on the cream-cheese frosting, I made it 3 times in the past 4 weeks. I was starting to groan, and I don't even usually eat them! Nice job!
Cream cheese frosting can be made in many different ways! I have been experimenting for over a year now and it's my go-to frosting so far.
We enjoyed this recipe and would make these again.
I am now in the mood for pumpkin pie!
Thanks for baking along with us, super star!
I'm with you - I didn't love the cupcakes, but I didn't hate them either. And everyone in my family ate them (but, in all honesty, they aren't that picky)
I sometimes turn out my cupcakes, but then I have to flip them the right way quickly or they get all smushed. And they are hot! Oh, wait...maybe Martha says you are supposed to wait a bit first...I never actually read the recipe past the baking time...
I find that I have to cook all of her recipes about 5 - 7 minutes LESS than she says. Funny. Must be my crappy old oven. Or the altitude.
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