Brandy’s Pumpkin Cupcakes w/Brown Butter Frosting

Brandy from Kitchener, Ontario has been filling orders for everything from little birthday cupcakes to big wedding cakes for a few years now.  Her creations have delighted her customers and readers of her blog Cakes-a-nonymous are privy to some of the wonderful treats her clients have had the pleasure to taste and enjoy.  It can’t be easy to plan and execute the vision that your clients bring to you, especially when you have a cute little toddler who wants to help with the mixing and the decorating but this young mother of a busy 3 1/2 year  old little girl manages to pull it over with imagination and flair every time.  The Fall of 2009 was the first time that she filled an order for a wedding cake but it certainly wasn’t her last and her client list continues to grow.  When you visit, it will come as no surprise why her business is doing well!  Baking and decorating are not the only hobbies that Brandy manages time for however.  She is also a fantastic knitter and has made some beautiful sweaters, blankets, hats and mittens, etc., and those too are available for viewing on her flickr site.  When not updating her baking blog and her flickr site, Brandy also posts at Mother of 1 big kid and 1 little kid and she and her husband share blogging duties at The Latimer Clan.  Should you ask her what the highlight of her blogging *life* has been to date, I’m pretty sure that Brandy will tell you that it was meeting Bakerella in person and seeing Buddy of Cake Boss perform his magic in front of a live audience.  I’m delighted that Brandy is here today with her recipe and her story.  You can follow her on Twitter @softgreenside

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I’ve been lucky enough thus far in my life to have never encountered a family member with cancer. But I have however, known a number of friends who have gone through the ordeal of having cancer, some beating it and some who haven’t. My one good friend Lisa lost a very important person, her mother to breast cancer. She unfortunately lost her battle at such a young age and then Lisa herself ended up with throat cancer. Thankfully Lisa fought and beat the cancer  and is now living a happy life with her husband Scott. I remember talking to Lisa during her ordeal, she had to seclude herself from the world when going through chemo andtreatments. She couldn’t come into contact with anyone because when going throughchemo you have no immune system and she couldn’t afford to get sick. She said that everyday her and her fiancé Scott would call her even though he couldn’t see her. Now that is love, he would call to encourage her and boost  her spirits telling her loved her and that her friends were always there when she couldn’t see anyone. Lisa is a strong amazing person and I’m glad to have her as a friend!

All of us at one time in our lives have known someone who has or had cancer. Personally,  I have a number of friends young and older who are currently  battling this disease.  It would be nice if no one had to gather the courage and the strength to fight cancer!

So I choose to do a Pumpkin flavored Tutorial. Why do you ask, well 1) I love all things Pumpkin, 2) I have so much of it in my freezer since I make it home made every year and 3) Why not, it’s a great warm taste when it’s cold outside.

Pumpkin Cupcakes w/ Brown Butter Frosting (recipe from My Kitchen Addiction)

This is me with my little helper.

Pumpkin Cupcake Ingredients

1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree (I used home-made, but store bought can work as well)

Turn oven on to 350F
Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
Mix sugars and butter together in mixer, beat well until mixed.
Add eggs one at a time.
Alternate the flour mixture, milk mixture and pumpkin mixture in batches until combined together.

Line cupcake tins with your choice of cupcake liners, my daughter wanted the Little mermaid cupcake liners so that is what we used.

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full with the batter. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes.  While the cupcakes are cooling make the Brown Sugar Frosting.

Brown Butter Frosting Ingredients

1 cup of brown butter (instructions to make follow)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 cups of confectioners sugar (sifted)
1/2 cup of whipping cream (more can be used based on consistency)

How to Make Brown Butter

Start with a 1 cup of unsalted, cut into chunks. Put it in a small pot and boil on medium low until it slowly cooks and boils to have a golden/brown color.

Let the Brown Butter cool. Once cooled add to the mixer with the cinnamon & vanilla. Mix until just combined. Sift the confectioners sugar (I did them two cups at a time). Add the sugar in batches. Once all the sugar is added it will look very dry.

Mix on low and add the whipping cream. I used half a cup of whipping cream to ice the cupcakes. if you want a thiner consistency add the whipping cream by tablespoons until you get the consistency you want.

Fill a piping bag with the big Wilton Star and start piping the cupcakes with the icing.

Voila you’re done!