Pumpkin Cupcakes with Orange Muscat Frosting recipe.
So close to Thanksgiving we are getting to the second part of our Pumpkin Revelry with adorable Pumpkin Cupcakes with Orange Muscat Frosting. We started out the revelry with 13 pumpkins that Corina brought home and made festive Pumpkin Crostini and healthy Pumpkin Chili. So many pumpkins also meant lots of seeds and spiced and roasted seeds have become a tasty quick snack.
From these orange globes we roasted eight and gave away five. We thought about turning one into a coach perfect for Cinderella but the fairy godmother was out on a tropical vacation so we had to make do without. Oh would that not be splendid if we could just wave a magic wand and the Thanksgiving Feast would appear. But then we all would miss the fun and joy that goes along with choosing the menu, preparing and tasting each dish and the glorious Holiday aromas that perfume the air with sweet and spicy notes….
Beginning this week the weather has started cooling down at night, yet we still get a few hours each day of glorious sun competing with the slight chill of the air. Our life here in Santa Barbara does feel like living in a tropical paradise most days and so hard to imagine the volatile snow storms on the East Coast, and wish we could send a little sunshine and warmth to their way!
Yesterday by mid-morning the luscious smells of pumpkin filled the air in the kitchen, and as we were perusing our holiday family recipes Corina suddenly exclaimed “we have not had cupcakes for such a long time!” Because we have been meaning to make cupcakes for some time now, we thought why not make some with our freshly oven roasted pumpkin puree this instant. The batter came together swiftly and as for the topping we wanted something special, something creamy but not too heavy and of course with a splash of wine. A little bottle of the sweet Orange Muscat from Kalyra Winery was patiently waiting in the wine shelf for this exact moment.
“At midnight, I’ll turn into a pumpkin and drive away in my glass slipper.” ~ Princess Ann in Roman Holiday (Audrey Hepburn)
Now we are looking forward to Thanksgiving, which will be celebrated with family and friends in a combined American-European tradition of the traditional Turkey with a side of Lingonberries instead of cranberries, Stuffing with Italian Sausage, Apple Pie and Pumpkin Cupcakes. These cupcakes are so easy to make you wont need to call your fairy godmother to assist in the kitchen.
They turned out quite tasty with the creamy Orange Muscat Frosting and remind us of carrot cake with simply good earthy flavors. You can pair them with a sweet dessert wine like Kalyra Orange Muscat or Prossecco or have them with a steaming cup of coffee. We sure will!
Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends, filled with delicious food, spectacular wines and warm laughter.
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Orange Muscat Frosting
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Coconut Sugar
- 1/3 cup Stevia
- 2 Eggs
- 1 stick unsalted Butter 1/2 cup - room temperature
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 Tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Ginger
- 1 cup Organic Pumpkin Puree
Instructions
- Preheat the oven 375 degrees.
- Whisk together the coconut sugar, eggs, and the soft butter in a large bowl. Then add the vanilla and pumpkin puree. Make sure that you do not over mix. In another bowl sift together the whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and ginger. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and combine well. With a large spoon or an ice cream scooper spoon into a cupcake tin, lined with cupcake cups or into 12 cupcake cups placed on a baking sheet.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes. We like to do the wooden skewer test, if you poke the cupcake the skewer end shall come out clean. Set aside to cool.
Orange Muscat Frosting
INGREDIENTS
- 3/4 cup Sweet White Wine (we used Orange Muscat) – reduced to 1/4 cup
- 8oz Cream Cheese – room temperature
- 1 stick unsalted Butter – room temperature, cut into 6 pieces
- 1/3 cup Natural Stevia Extract or 1 cup Confectioner’s Sugar
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a small sauce pan over medium high heat reduce the sweet white wine into 1/4 cup. Set aside.
- Beat cream cheese with butter in a medium bowl until creamy. Gently pour in the wine and mix some more. Slowly add the Stevia or (confectioner’s sugar) and beat together until nice smooth. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Spoon into a pastry bag quipped with #1M star tip. Swirl on top of cooled cupcakes.
- Enjoy!
2008 Kalyra Orange Muscat – California Sweet orange blossom and citrusy aromas with beautifully balanced flavors. Taste the luscious notes of orange blossom, apricot, stone fruit, citrus and touch of honey.
Love these cupcakes, and love the idea of using sweet wine in the frosting! Happy Thanksgiving (almost!) to you both.
J + C:
What great shots!!! These pumpkin cupcakes would have been all mine if I was there. They look mouthwatering and so comforting…
I am looking forward to taking my children to a pumpkin patch as we do every single year. Fall is our fave season!.
Thanks Denise, we would have shared the pumpkin cupcakes with you! Hope you have a wonderful time selecting pumpkins! J+C
These are just gorgeous, and I love the idea of using the wine to flavor the frosting! Oh, and about that Thanksgiving magic wand?!?!? When you find it – order me one, too! 😀
Hi There,
This cake recipe is looking so appetizing and beautiful ! Thanks for sharing awesome recipes!
It was a real delight to see and learn so much from your each and every post. Hope to see more of your creative endeavors in the New Year.
Have a wonderful Holiday Season and stay Warm !
Best Regards, Sonia
Thank you Grace! We love to cook with wine and have several little bottles with different wine reductions in the fridge. As we mentioned Nami, when you reduce wine the alcohol is evaporating and with added honey you have a sweeter flavor to use in baking or even to drizzle over pancakes.
Cheers,
J+C
Hello Nami, we love everything with pumpkin too and we ate this cupcakes so fast that we wished we had several dozens more. When you reduce wine the alcohol is evaporating and with added honey you have a sweeter flavor. The Orange Muscat was indeed delightful.
Cheers,
J+C
Thank you so much Caroline! Hope you will make them soon, they are truly delicious. We are planing an encore with these cupcakes too for our December Holiday Party.
Cheers,
J+C
Oh NO Dedy, it did happen to us in the past as well. When you mix alcohol like Contreau or any other Liquor with whipping cream or cream cheese the ammount has to be very small only few drops. In this recipe we used reduced wine which has a thicker consistency than plain alcohol.
reduced wine in frosting? what a stupendous idea! these sound lovely and you’ve done a wonderful job of capturing images of them. 🙂
I love pumpkin cupcakes/cheese/pies everything! But here I’m more impressed by the Orange Muscat Frosting!! WOW, that’s just a unique and amazing flavor. Really love the elegant touch for the cupcakes!
hi there, i just made a frosting with contreau liqour…
it’s turn out into a clumpy and oily mud like frosting, what’s wrong then???
isn’t my mixer is too higt???
What a lovely blog you both have! I’m so happy to have found it! These photos are so pretty and your cupcakes are making me so hungry! I love the addition of the orange muscat in the frosting. Sounds delicious! I’m pinning now to make soon!
Thank you Pamela and hope you had a delicious Thanksgiving too. This cupcakes are moist and not too sweet and the frosting recipe is from our Hungarian mom/grandmother.Enjoy
CHeers,
J+C
So kind of you Dedy, and glad you enjoy our pumpkin recipes! We had a lots of pumpkins this year…
Cheers,
J+C
Hope Kristi that you had a blessed Thanksgiving too with your tasty dishes. We love to use this frosting on top of our walnut cupcake as well because it is not too sweet.
Cheers,
J+C
Thank you so much Rosario and hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving as well! Specially around the Holidays we do miss the snow. Enjoy.
Cheers,
J+C
Thank you dear Edith! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with lots of delicious desserts.
Cheers,
J+C
What beautiful cupcakes! Can only imagine how delicious they are.
always loving the way you too coooperate within this post…
great job, i guess i lovin pumpkin all the way!
You both look so beautiful! Wish I could be there. Got lots of snow in my backyard. Happy Thanksgiving!
What great photos and the pumpkin cupcakes look so delicious! Would love to have these on my thanksgiving table with a glass of wine.
These cupcakes look fabulous! I love the frosting! What a great flavor combination! Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!