Pumpkin Cupcakes - for Halloween!

We had a lovely time at a Halloween BBQ with friends this year!

We carved some pumpkins, which looked rather impressive when all lit up!

The pumpkin innards were put to great use on these delicious pizzas, expertly cooked on the bbq by Kara. 

Anita made us all individualised graveyard chocolate mousse!!

My contribution were these Pumpkin Cupcakes... the recipe goes a little like this.....

ingredients
1 cup cream
150g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
approx 500g butternut pumpkin (this weight was with the skin & seeds still attached)
approx 2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2  teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon "apple cake" spice mix

first remove skin and seeds from pumpkin and chop the pumpkin into small cubes.

In a saucepan, place chopped pumpkin, and about half of the cream. add 1 tablespoon maple syrup and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon & 1/4 teaspoon "apple cake" spice (or just use some nutmeg, or whatever other spice you like).  Cook over a gentle heat until pumpkin is cooked - you need to puree it, so make sure it is well cooked.  When cooked, puree with a stick blender, or similar. set aside to cool.

When the pumpkin mix has cooled, get on with the rest of the recipe.....

Preheat oven to 180c

Combine remaining cream, eggs, sugar, maple syrup and spices and beat well.  Gradually add the flour and stir till well combined.  Stir through pumpkin puree.

Spoon mixture into cupcake trays lined with papers.  Bake in oven approx 20 minutes. But check on them as they may cook a little more quickly.

Let the cupcakes cool.

Then ice with the icing of your choice - I made a simple icing of icing sugar, margarine, a little maple syrup and cinnamon. And coloured it orange.

To decorate, I melted some dark chocolate and piped it into slightly dodgy looking shapes that vaguely resembled spiders.