Description
These Jack-O-Lantern Halloween Pumpkin Cupcakes are a festive and delicious treat featuring moist pumpkin cupcakes filled with salted caramel sauce, topped with creamy pumpkin buttercream and adorable hand-crafted fondant pumpkin decorations. Perfect for Halloween parties and fall celebrations.
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 tablespoon milk (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Decoration
- 60 g orange fondant
- 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
- Black food marker
- Green food coloring
- Cornstarch for dusting
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 ⅛th of an inch. Use a pumpkin-shaped cutter to cut out shapes, including a few extras. Cover them to prevent drying. Use a toothpick to draw lines on the pumpkins, dust lightly with cocoa powder using a dry brush for depth, draw eyes and mouth with a black food marker, and paint the stalk with green food coloring. Set aside to dry.
- Bake the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 175℃ and line a cupcake tin with liners. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin spice. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes), scraping the bowl halfway. Add eggs one at a time, beating until fully incorporated after each addition. Mix in pumpkin puree until combined. Gently fold in the dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with milk. Fill cupcake liners three-quarters full. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.
- Prepare the salted caramel sauce: Heat sugar in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally until melted and amber colored. Add butter and whisk until melted. Slowly add cream in a thin stream while whisking. Cook on low until slightly thickened; sauce will thicken more as it cools. Stir in sea salt flakes. Let cool to room temperature.
- Make the pumpkin buttercream: Beat butter until smooth and creamy. Sift powdered sugar and pumpkin powder into the bowl, mix lightly with a spatula, then cream on low increasing to medium speed until creamy and smooth. Add vanilla extract and beat until combined. If too stiff, add milk in small increments and beat until desired consistency is reached.
- Assemble the cupcakes: Transfer caramel sauce and buttercream to piping bags (use star tip #1M for buttercream). Core the cupcakes with a corer or the back of a large piping tip and set aside the cored pieces. Fill each hole with caramel sauce, then cover with the top layer of the cored piece. Pipe buttercream swirls on top of each cupcake. Press the fondant pumpkins lightly onto the buttercream to decorate.
Notes
- Wear gloves when tinting white fondant to keep hands clean.
- Crack eggs into a separate bowl to avoid shell fragments in batter.
- Avoid overmixing batter to keep cupcakes tender; mix on low speed only until combined.
- Use a spring-loaded scoop to fill liners evenly and neatly.
- Control heat carefully when melting sugar for caramel to prevent burning; turn heat off occasionally if needed.
- The caramel sauce may bubble vigorously when adding butter, which is normal.
- Use a candy thermometer to achieve the perfect caramel consistency at 105°C (220°F).
- Lightly mix buttercream ingredients with spatula before using mixer to prevent sugar dusting.
- Pipe caramel into cupcake holes with a piping bag for tidy filling.
- Test cupcakes for doneness a few minutes before time is up using a toothpick to avoid dry cupcakes.
- Use cupcake liners about 5cm base diameter and 3.5cm height, yield is about 14 cupcakes.
- Keep cupcakes covered while cooling to maintain moisture and store in airtight container.
- Make extra caramel sauce as sugar can burn quickly in small batches; using a light-colored saucepan helps monitor caramel color.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 380 kcal
- Sugar: 30 g
- Sodium: 150 mg
- Fat: 22 g
- Saturated Fat: 12 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 44 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 4 g
- Cholesterol: 60 mg
