Caramel Swirl Silly Pumpkin Cupcakes
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Read the full disclosure here.
This post and recipe was created for #HalloweenTreatsWeek!
Do you ever have a day that just starts off badly and doesn’t get much better as it goes on? Yep, I have one of those days last week. I thought I had everything under control as I ran around the house trying to pack my lunch and J’s lunch, getting us ready and out the door on time for a mandatory 8am meeting at work. I got us out the door on time but J was crying and not happy to be in the car.
I got us to work and into his daycare and was feeling pretty good about it. He was a little teary but his buddy came up to see him and he stopped crying. Then he coughed, got this look on his face, and proceeded to get sick all over me. I cleaned us up, took him to my classroom, then went and told my principal I wish I could come to the meeting but I needed a change of clothes and needed to wait for my husband to come and pick up my son.
The rest of the day was a blur. I had no planning so I ran from classroom to classroom all day long. My oldest students were not doing well following directions and by the time I got home I was exhausted. It turns out J did not want to go down for his nap because he wasn’t feeling well so my husband took him for a ride and I actually had an hour alone in my house. Most people would probably lay on the couch and enjoy the quiet time but not me.
I went directly into the kitchen and started working on these Caramel Swirl Silly Pumpkin Cupcakes. I felt badly the daycare people had to clean up our mess and I was desperately wanting to bake because it always makes me feel better. I whipped up a batch of pumpkin cupcakes and then put a swirl of Litehouse Pumpkin Spice Caramel Dip in them. I’ll be honest, after the day I was having when I saw the consistency of these cupcakes I was pretty sure they weren’t going to work.
Imagine my surprise when I took them out of the oven and they were gorgeous! The cupcakes rose the perfect amount and you could clearly see the caramel swirl in them. I was pretty excited about it. They were almost too pretty to decorate. I quickly whipped up a batch of buttercream frosting using Dixie Crystals powdered sugar and dyed it orange so that it would look like a pumpkin.
I ended up frosting these with the orange frosting and then I went to town decorating them. I put Treat Street USA candy eyeballs on some of the cupcakes and used Wilton sparkly black gel to give the pumpkins noses and mouths. I also used Wilton Halloween sprinkles to give the pumpkins “hair”. I thought they looked really fun and silly when I was finished. They would be great to enjoy at a kids party because they aren’t scary though I’m sure adults would be thrilled to have one of these cupcakes as well!
Caramel Swirl Silly Pumpkin Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 1 stick butter softened
- 3/4 c. sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/3 c. pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 c. flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/3 c. milk
- 1/3 c. Litehouse Pumpkin Spice Caramel Dip
For the frosting:
- 2 sticks butter softened
- 3-4 c. powdered sugar I used Dixie Crystals
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract I used Adams Twice as Strong Vanilla Extract
- 2 teaspoons milk
- orange food coloring
For decorations:
- Candy Eyeballs
- Wilton Black Sparkly Gel icing
- Halloween Sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar.
- Beat in the egg.
- Add the pumpkin puree and vanilla and mix well.
- In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add half the flour mixture tot he butter mixture and mix well.
- Stir in the milk and mix until combined.
- Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until just combined.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups filling each one 3/4 of the way full.
- Place a tablespoon of caramel dip on top of each cup of batter and swirl with a butter knife.
- Bake for 22-24 minutes.
- Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
- To make the frosting beat the butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar a half cup at a time until smooth.
- Add in the vanilla, milk, and orange food coloring and beat until smooth.
- Cover the cupcakes with the orange frosting.
- Top with sprinkles for hair, candy eyeballs, and use the black sparkly gel to make nose and mouths.
Notes
Check out the amazing #HalloweenTreatsWeek recipes from our bloggers today!
- Spooky Halloween Snack Board from Big Bear’s Wife
- Caramel Swirl Silly Pumpkin Cupcakes from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
- Pumpkin Cake Pops from 4 Sons R Us
- Decorated Halloween Shortbread Cookies from Pastry Chef Online
- Gluten Free Jack o Lantern Fruit Pizza from Frugal & Fit
- Michael Meyers Pumpkin Cupcakes from Cheese Curd In Paradise
- Frankenstein Fingers from Jen Around the World
- Candy Corn Sprinkle Cookies from Daily Dish Recipes
- Bloody Candy Apple Milkshake from Sweet Beginnings
- Candy Corn Moonshine Martini from A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Pumpkin Pie Minis with Brown Sugar Whipped Cream and Trick-or-Treat Sprinkles from Nancie’s Table
- Monster Cake Pops from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Halloween Layer Cake from The Redhead Baker
- Maple Mummy Oatmeal Cookie Cream Pies from Sweet ReciPEAs
- Hocus Pocus Cauldron Fondue from For the Love of Food
- Eyeball Halloween Cupcakes from Strawberry Blondie Kitchen
- Caramel Chocolate Green Monster Cupcakes from I am a Honey Bee
Those eyes are so fun! SO creepy and cute at the same time. These look delicious!
These cupcakes are a great way to get the kiddos in on the Halloween baking fun!
Ooooo! The swirl looks so good! I love those cute faces!
I liked these a lot when I first saw them because they look fun and silly and REAl. Now I love them because I read your post, and the story of getting to the kitchen to bake them was just as REAL and relatable. Baking lifts me up too. The cupcakes with caramel look fabulous, they do not NEED decoration, but in this case YES to pumpkin colored icing and eyeballs and silly fun. A great read and an inspiration to just keep on and Do It!