Pumpkin Cupcakes with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Hello Everybody!  As we welcome another Tuesday I find myself jumping upon the wagon!  What wagon you ask LOL.   The pumpkin wagon.  I was thumbing through my recipe book and ran across this recipe and remembered just how yummy they are!  So to be like everybody else but hey Pumpkin is a good thing LOL!  :D.  Hope everyone enjoys.  Remember to make time for the little things this week.  Oh and that of course includes these cupcakes!  See ya Thursday

Pumpkin Cupcakes with 

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 Cup (1/4 lb) butter, at room temperature

1 Cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 Cup canned pumpkin

1 Tablespoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 Cup milk

Orange cream cheese frosting (recipe follows)

Candy sprinkles (optional)

1.  In a bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until smooth.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  Add pumpkin and vanilla and beat until well blended (mixture will look separated at this point).

2.  In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.  Stir half the flour mixture into pumpkin mixture.  Stir in milk just until blended.  Add remaining flour mixture and stir just until incorporated.  Spoon batter equally into 12 muffin cups (1/3 cup capacity; cups should be about 3/4 full) lined with paper baking cups.

3.  Bake in a 350° regular or convection oven until tops spring back when lightly pressed in the center and a wooden skewer inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.  Let cool in pans on racks for 5 minutes; remove cupcakes from pans and set on racks to cool completely, at least 30 minutes.

4.  Spoon orange cream cheese frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a 3/4" star tip and pipe onto tops of cupcakes, or spread on cupcakes with a knife.  Decorate with candy sprinkles, if desired.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting:  In a bowl, with a mixer on low speed, beat 6 ounces cream cheese and 6 tablespoons butter, both at room temperature, until well blended.  beat in 1 1/2 Cups powdered sugar, 1 Tablespoon finely minced orange peel and 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon orange extract until smooth.

Hey I found this gem at "myrecipes.com" who had found it in a magazine called "Sunset".