Description
These Jack-O-Lantern Halloween Pumpkin Cupcakes are a festive treat featuring moist pumpkin-spiced cupcakes filled with rich salted caramel sauce, topped with creamy pumpkin buttercream and adorned with hand-crafted orange fondant pumpkin toppers. Perfect for Halloween celebrations, these cupcakes combine autumn flavors with creative decoration.
Ingredients
Scale
Cupcakes
- 200 g self raising flour
- 100 g salted butter
- 200 g granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 200 g pumpkin puree
- 100 ml milk
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Salted Caramel Sauce
- 160 g white sugar
- 200 ml heavy cream
- 80 g salted butter
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt flakes
Pumpkin Buttercream
- 450 g powdered sugar
- 225 g salted butter
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin powder
- 2 tablespoons milk (optional)
Decoration
- 60 g orange fondant
- 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
- Black food marker
- Green food coloring
- Cornstarch (for dusting workspace)
Instructions
- Make the fondant pumpkin toppers: Knead the orange fondant until smooth and pliable. Dust your workspace with cornstarch and roll the fondant thin to about ⅛ inch thickness. Cut out pumpkin shapes using a pumpkin-shaped cutter, making extras for contingency. Keep covered to prevent drying. Use a toothpick to draw vertical lines on each pumpkin. Lightly brush cocoa powder on the lines and sides for depth. Draw eyes and mouth with a black food marker. Paint the stalk with green food coloring using a lightly moistened brush. Set aside to dry.
- Bake the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 175℃ (350°F). Line a cupcake tin with liners. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy for about 2 minutes, scraping sides halfway through. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in pumpkin puree until well combined. Gently fold dry ingredients into wet mixture in two batches, alternating with milk. Spoon batter into liners filling about three-quarters full. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes completely on a wire rack.
- Prepare the salted caramel sauce: Place sugar in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally until fully melted and amber in color. Add butter and whisk until melted and combined. Gradually add cream in a thin stream while whisking continuously until smooth. Continue cooking on low until sauce thickens slightly, then stir in sea salt flakes. Let cool completely to room temperature.
- Make the pumpkin buttercream: Beat butter in a large bowl until smooth and creamy. Sift in powdered sugar and pumpkin powder, mixing lightly with a spatula before beating with a mixer starting on low speed and increasing to medium until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add vanilla extract and beat well. If the buttercream is too stiff, add milk in small increments (half a tablespoon), beating after each addition to reach desired consistency.
- Assemble the cupcakes: Transfer caramel sauce and pumpkin buttercream into separate piping bags (use a star tip #1M for buttercream). Core the cupcakes with a cupcake corer or the back of a large piping tip, saving the cored pieces to cover holes later. Pipe caramel sauce into the cored holes. Replace the top cored pieces to cover the holes. Pipe pumpkin buttercream swirls on each cupcake. Top each with a fondant pumpkin topper, gently pressing to secure.
Notes
- Wear gloves when tinting fondant to prevent staining your hands.
- Crack eggs into a separate bowl to avoid shell fragments in batter.
- Mix batter at low speed and avoid overmixing to keep cupcakes tender.
- Use an ice cream scoop or cookie scoop for uniform cupcake batter portions.
- Monitor sugar closely while melting to avoid burning; adjust heat as needed.
- Butter can cause vigorous bubbling in caramel; keep heat low and stir gently.
- Use a candy thermometer and cook caramel to 105°C (220°F) for drizzling consistency.
- Lightly mix buttercream ingredients with a spatula before beating to avoid powdered sugar flying.
- Use a piping bag for clean and precise filling of caramel into cupcakes.
- Test cupcakes a few minutes before baking time ends with a toothpick to avoid overbaking.
- Standard cupcake liners used are 5cm base diameter and 3.5cm height, yielding 14 cupcakes.
- Cover cooling cupcakes with a kitchen towel and store in an airtight container to maintain moisture.
- Make extra caramel sauce to ensure sufficient supply due to small batch caramelizing challenges.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 400 kcal
- Sugar: 35 g
- Sodium: 150 mg
- Fat: 22 g
- Saturated Fat: 12 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 45 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Cholesterol: 70 mg
