Surprise Pumpkin Cupcakes

This year at work we had a potluck on Halloween (along with a costume contest. I went as a baker - original, right?). It didn't take me long to narrow down my choices as I already knew the flavor and type: pumpkin (duh!) and cupcakes. For the cupcakes I had gotten two Halloween-themed cupcake liners at Target just in case the opportunity came up.

I decided to show some love to my hard copy recipes this time. I finally decided on a pumpkin cupcake recipe in one of the Taste of Home special issues. They have a surprise cheesecake layer of cheesecake in them. Other than top them with powdered sugar, as the recipe suggests, I decided to use store-bought frosting (these are, after all, cupcakes. Plus, it was a school night and my track record with frosting is ... not great) and sprinkles.

Pumpkin Surprise Cupcakes (Taste of Home Cupcakes, on shelves until June 3, 2013, pg. 9)

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
  
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup canola oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• Confectioners' sugar, optional (I ended up buying one of Pillsbury's new pre-filled pastry bags. While I got the vanilla flavor, I kinda wish I'd gotten the cream cheese flavor)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, beat the pumpkin, sugar, oil, and eggs until well blended. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; gradually beat into pumpkin mixture until blended.
2. For filling, in another small bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add egg; beat on low just until combined.
3. Fill paper-lined muffin cups one-third full. Drop filling by tablespoonfuls into center of each cupcake. Cover with remaining batter.
4. Bake at 350℉ for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick  inserted into the pumpkin portion comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired. Refrigerate leftovers.

As you can see, my frosting technique needs work (this is what happens when you don't practice what you learn in one of those Wilton decorating classes). However, the dozen that I put out were gone by the end of the day. I left the other dozen out the next day (we often leave leftovers out after a potluck). Also gone pretty quickly.