Who else is ready for Halloween? I don’t know about you but we’ve been talking about it for weeks now. And by “we” I mean my son. He’s almost 4 and finally at the point where he understands the concept of halloween. He loves to stroll the isles of target and look at all the spooky stuff. He also loves to costume shop with me. He’s in between a ghost costume and an astronaut costume at the moment. Good news is that we have a little over a month to make a sure decision. Hey, costumes are a big deal! It only comes around once a year. This was my favorite holiday growing up, aside from Christmas of course. I loved to dress up, go to haunted houses, decorate our house and do all things spooky. This holiday brings out the child in everyone and I love that aspect of it. The other thing I love about Halloween? The candy, sweets and baking! I love a good holiday treat.
These cupcakes are probably my millionth pumpkin spice treat I’ve made but I don’t care. I love pumpkin spice. And what goes better with pumpkin spice than cheesecake? With that being said, I made a pumpkin spice cheesecake cupcake. A cupcake that both my husband and my son love. Sure I could have made a big cake, but cupcakes are so much more fun. Plus it’s the perfect little bite and portion size.
I love to dress up cupcakes and cakes with cute festive toppers. My son loves it and it makes it much more magical and kid friendly. One of my favorite brands is Meri Meri. They have the most adorable celebration/birthday/holiday baking accessories. I go to my local Swoozies in Atlanta to find the newest Meri Meri stuff. The other day I stumbled upon the holy grail of cute Halloween cake accessories. It was hard to just pick one! If you don’t have a Swoozies nearby, you can find Meri Meri online. I’ll post a link below!
FAVORITE MERI MERI PARTY/CAKE ACCESSORIES:
PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE CUPCAKES WITH MAPLE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 12-16 minutes
Rest time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour + 43 minutes
Serves: 12 large cupcakes
Special equipment: cupcake pan, large cupcake sleeves, stand mixer
INGREDIENTS:
For cupcakes:
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground ginger
- 1 cup pumpkin purée
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For cream cheese filling:
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp sour cream
- 1 large egg
For maple cream cheese frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/2 cup salted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp maple extract
- 1 lb box powdered sugar
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Prep a cupcake pan with large cupcake sleeves.
- In a large bowl whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and ground ginger.
- In a separate large bowl whisk together pumpkin purée, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, canola oil and vanilla.
- Carefully mix in the dry ingredients to the wet.
- In a mixer with the paddle attachment, mix together all of the cream cheese filling ingredients. Scrape the bowl and you go so that everything gets mixed properly.
- Fill a cupcake sleeve with a small dollop of the pumpkin cake mix. Then add a small dollop of the cream cheese filling. Fill with one more scoop of cake mix and one more tiny scoop of cream cheese filling. (Make sure only to fill the cups 3/4 full. Note that the cake will rise as it cooks.) Use a toothpick to make a swirl with the batter. Repeat till all the batter is used.
- Place in the oven for 12-16 minutes. Check occasionally with a toothpick to see if the cupcakes are cooked through.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for 30 minutes to an hour.
- While they cool, start the maple cream cheese frosting. Add cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract and maple extract to a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk till smooth and creamy. Slowly add in the powdered sugar till the frosting is thick and creamy.