Gluten Free Pumpkin Cupcakes with Vanilla Maple Frosting & Maple Bacon Crumbles

Today I really felt like baking, just one of those days where Stephen was at football, I probably should have been working out, and just felt good :) I am trying not to eat wheat or gluten (as much as possible) so I made these gluten free! I am also not supposed to be eating white sugar, but we will keep this a secret right? AAANdddd because there is bacon on them, that makes them Paleo right? :) Honestly, the ingredients list below looks really long, but these cupcakes are super simple!

Cupcakes
1 cup Gluten Free AP flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large eggs at room temp
1 cup pumpkin puree 
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Frosting
8 ounces cream cheese at room temp
4 tablespoons butter at room tempvanilla beans removed from 2 pods

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used my homemade extract)
1/2 teaspoon imitation maple flavor (NOT maple syrup)
2 cups sifted powdered sugar

Topping
1/2 pound crumbled Maple Bacon

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line your cupcake tins with liners (This recipe makes approx 18 medium sized cupcakes)
• Into a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.
• In a larger bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin puree, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vegetable oil. Add the flour mixture and stir until combined.
• Divide the batter among the prepared tins and bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Set aside and cool.
• Before cooking, cut up bacon into small pieces then fry up. Set aside and cool completely
• Make the maple frosting by using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, cream cheese and butter on low speed until smooth. Stir in the maple flavoring and vanilla extract. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.

Adapted from Ina Garten

Cupcake Heaven!

This weekend I made 2 different types of cupcakes for the Super Bowl party we were invited to. They were both DELICIOUS!!! I got one of the recipes from my friend, Alyssa,  and another from a food blog. I added a couple super minor changes and boom- decadent cupcakes everyone loved!

1st Recipe: Triple Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Homemade Whipped Cream

1 box Duncan Hines Triple Chocolate Decadents Cake Mix

Ingredients the box calls for (water, oil and eggs)

1 container Duncan Hines Glazes

1 quart heavy whipping cream

2 vanilla beans

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped semi sweet chocolate chips

5 tablespoons powdered sugar

49er Faithful! Although they weren't
in the Super Bowl, I put red and gold
sprinkles :)

Directions:

• Make the cupcake mix and the filling mix that comes with the box according to the instructions. 
• Fill the cupcakes 2/3 full with the cake mix and then put about a tablespoon of the filling mix on top of each cupcake, don't mix!
• Bake for 20 minutes (I found for my oven they were done at exactly 20 minutes)
• Let them cool completely.
• After they are cool, drizzle some of the glazes mix over them (follow instructions for heating on container) then let it get slightly hard, about 10 minutes. 
• Make the whipped cream by putting the heavy cream and vanilla beans (scrape from vanilla pods) in a stand mixer and start to whip at a low speed. As the cream starts to get thicker turn up the speed. When the cream starts to form little peaks, add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract.  Whip until you have stiff peaks, but be sure not to over mix you will get butter!
• Using a Bismark tip #253 (cake decorating tip), put it into the center of the cupcakes and fill the cupcakes with about a 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of cream, until the cupcake kind of puffs.
• Then switch to an open or closed star tip or a french tip and put some whip cream on top! 
• Decorate with your favorite sprinkles!

2nd Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese filled Cupcakes

1 box of your favorite chocolate cake mix

ingredients for box mix (water, oil and eggs)

2 8 oz packages of cream cheese

2 cups of mini chocolate chips

2/3 cups sugar

2 eggs (for cream cheese mix)

Powdered sugar for sprinkling on top

Directions: 

• Make the cake mix according to the box directions. 
• To make the cream cheese filling, put the cream cheese in a stand mixer and start to cream with the sugar. When it is nice and fluffy, add 2 eggs and cream for a minute longer. 
• Remove the bowl from the mixer and add the mini chocolate chips and mix by hand. 
• Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full and then add a very large tablespoon of the cream cheese mix onto the top of the cupcake batter, do not mix. 
• Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until you stick a toothpick into the cake part and it comes out clean. I did mine pretty much exactly 20 minutes. 
• Let them cool about 5 minutes in the holders and then remove. 
• Let cool completely and then sprinkle powdered sugar over the top