Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes

Here’s something a little different to hand out to those trick-or-treaters! Use up a chunk of pumpkin and impress your friends with these fluffy, spicy and delicious pumpkin cupcakes!
Makes 24

Ingredients

250g pumpkin flesh
280g plain flour
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
½ tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. cloves
110g butter
200g caster sugar

Step One

Cut up the pumpkin flesh into even thumb-sized pieces and cook for 15 minutes in a pan of boiling water. Then drain and puree in a blender.

Tip: when boiling or roasting something as dense as pumpkin – think also of potatoes, carrots or squash – it’s best to bring the temperature up gradually to avoid cooking the outside faster than the middle.

Step Two

Preheat the oven to 190C. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and the spices.

Step Three

In another bowl, mix the sugars and butter together (melt the butter just a little first, if you keep it in the fridge). Beat in the egg, then add the milk, pumpkin puree and all of the dry ingredients.

Step Four

Mix into a light batter and measure out into 24 cupcake cases. Cook for 25 minutes until brown.

For the Icing

Mix together 50g of butter, 200g of cream cheese and 350g of icing sugar. Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract and beat until fluffy. Ice the cupcakes when cool and sprinkle with a little cinnamon.