Pumpkin Cupcakes with Browned Butter Frosting and Tales of a First Birthday.

I have been recruited to do my grandbaby's 2nd birthday cake.

 

Last year I made her 1st birthday cake for a celebration at Thanksgiving. It was intended to be a smash cake. Ya know, where the baby smashes into it and makes a big mess and rubs cake all over her face. Great photos ensue. Well... she's not a big sweet eater. I merrily made a little orange birthday cake with (a very cute) fondant turkey sitting on it. She would have none of it. Since this was at Thanksgiving with tons of people she probably had no idea what the heck this thing was that was being presented to her. Everyone of course had a camera. Nothin'

 

So... another 1st birthday celebration was planned closer to her actual birthday. Again, undaunted, I make a pumpkin shaped cake, again with bright orange frosting. At the presentation she cried. It's really hard to explain the concept to a 1 year old.

Anyway, this year I am planning a cake that looks like a cake, no scary turkey or neon orange frosting this time. Maybe a few fondant pumpkins and a candle. Possibly scalloped frosting on the side.

Along with the cake will be cupcakes. Chocolate and Vanilla have been ordered. I have gotten it into my head that I want something with browned butter frosting. Pumpkin comes to mind. My dad, unlike grandbaby, has a sweet tooth so he’s my very willing guinea pig. The cupcakes used spice cake mix. This is because I’m at Dad’s and he doesn’t have all the spices in the pumpkin pie mixture. The cupcakes came out good right out of the oven, but were moister after sitting overnight with the frosting on them. Next time I will use my trick of adding ¼ cup mayonnaise to the batter and add some more spices. The browned butter frosting was delicious. Here is the recipe I used:

Cake
1 box Spice cake mix

1 can pumpkin (15 oz)

½ cup water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix all ingredients thoroughly and fill cupcake pan about 2/3 full. Bake about 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

Browned Butter Cupcake Frosting
1 cup butter, divided in half

2 cups powdered sugar (the recipe called for 4 but I only needed 2)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3-6 tablespoons cream

To make the browned butter: In a saucepan, heat ½ cup butter over medium-low heat until lightly browned, about 8 minutes. You need to watch this closely. As soon as you smell the nutty aroma it is almost done. Cool. In a large bowl beat the remaining ½ cup butter for 30 seconds. Add the cooled browned butter and beat until combined. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat in the cream, 1 tablespoon at a time until spreadable.

Update:
The cupcakes came out great, each type had their own fondant decoration. Since the birthday had a harvest theme I made a white chocolate modeling clay scarecrow to decorate the top.

 

 I added a picture of the final cake at the top of this post. After the singing of "Happy Birthday" mom tried to get the birthday girl to try a cupcake. Mom remarked "She acts like I'm trying to feed her poison!"