(makes 12 cupcakes)

These cupcakes are moist and tasty and just the right amount to enjoy with tea or coffee. If it helps freeze unbaked in tins and bake from frozen increasing baking time by two or three minutes.  Store mashed pumpkin in the freezer ready to make a batch of cupcakes.

INGREDIENTS

2 eggs
200g sugar
125ml Canola oil
245g (1 cup) steamed and mashed pumpkin, chilled
140g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch freshly ground nutmeg

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 tablespoons toasted and chopped walnuts, optional
2 tablespoons finely chopped dried apricots, optional
2 tablespoons roughly chopped lightly toasted pumpkin seeds, optional

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Lightly grease with baking spray 1x 12 regular size muffin tray.

Place eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk until mixture is just combined.  Add oil and pumpkin and combine. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and spices into egg mixture and stir until combined and making sure all the lumps are dissolved.

Pour mixture into prepared muffin trays to ¾ fill tins.  Bake for 20 minutes or until an inserted skewer when removed comes out clean.  Leave in tins for at least 5 minutes before turning onto a cake rack to cool.

In a small bowl combine walnuts, apricots and pumpkins seeds. Turn cupcakes over so bases face upwards. Ice cakes with Cream Cheese Frosting then sprinkle with walnut mixture.

Cream Cheese Frosting

INGREDIENTS

150g cream cheese, diced
225g icing sugar
¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract or essence
1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice

METHOD

Place cream cheese in a bowl and beat until well combined.

Sieve icing sugar over cream cheese, add vanilla extract and lemon juice and continue beating until frosting is smooth.

Photo credit: Murray Lloyd