Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe from Elizabeth Falkner at Citizen Cake in San Francisco.

Yield: 24 cupcakes

For cupcakes
2 c. cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. Kosher salt
½ tsp. fresh grated nutmeg
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 c. roasted butternut squash or pumpkin puree
½ c. canola oil
¼ c. buttermilk
2 tbsp. fresh grated ginger root
2 eggs
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. granulated sugar

For frosting
4 oz. butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 c. powdered sugar, sifted
2 tsp. milk
1 tsp. lemon juice
Pinch of salt
¼ tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325º.

Sift together cake flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and set aside.

Mix pumpkin, oil, buttermilk, and ginger root, and set aside.

Whisk the egg with the sugars until creamy; add to the pumpkin mixture. Add the flour mixture until just incorporated.

Pour the batter into lined muffin tins, bake 20-25 minutes (or until cupcakes spring back when touched), and let cool completely.

While the cupcakes are baking, make the frosting. Using a mixer with a paddle attachment, combine butter and cream cheese. Add powdered sugar, milk, lemon juice, and salt; mix until combined. Stir in vanilla extract.

Frost the cupcakes, and then garnish with fresh grated nutmeg or toasted pecans.