Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

How are we already at the end of October? I truly didn’t see the month go by. I hope that you’ve been enjoying the October recipes so far. Today, for the last post before Halloween, I decided to make something that was cute, rather than spooky. These Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes would be perfect for a Halloween party or even as dessert on Halloween night. I love cupcakes; they’re like a hybrid between a muffin and a cake. Who wouldn’t want two desserts in one?

The base for these is a chocolate cupcake with a hint of pumpkin pie spice (October = pumpkin pie spice everything!), topped with chocolate crumble and a mellow creme pumpkin. Contrary to some more elaborate cupcakes, these are super easy to make and, again, they’re very kid-friendly so your little ones can get involved in the kitchen.

Extra tips:

• When incorporating the dry ingredients to the wet, you want to alternate with the buttermilk. It’s best to start with about a third of the dry ingredients, then half of the buttermilk, then another third of the dry ingredients, before pouring the last of the milk and the rest of the dry ingredients. That allows all of the ingredients to be added gradually and it ensures that everything will be perfectly blended.
• Cupcake batter is pretty runny which means it rises quite a bit in the oven. For that reason, you want to be careful not to overfill the cups.
• For the chocolate shavings, you can use leftover melted chocolate from the Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice Shortbread Cookies (recipe here). Simply pour whatever is left over in a small container and place in the fridge to allow the chocolate to set again. Use a vegetable peeler to shave off chunks of chocolate.
  

That is it, we have complete one whole month of Halloween themed recipes! I really hope that you guys enjoyed; I know I had a lot of fun creating these. If you missed one, you can find the Eyes and Bones Brownies here, the Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice Shortbread Cookies here and the Popped Teeth Donuts here. As always, if you end up recreating any which one of these, don’t forget to use the hashtag #teaandmascara and tag me in your pictures. Happy Halloween guys!

Much love,