Tempting Pumpkin Mocha Cupcake
You wouldn’t probably think that a pumpkin mocha cupcake would be of interest due to the combination of flavors. You will be pleasantly surprised when you sink your teeth into this tempting dessert. If you want to take something different to your next festive gathering take these with you!
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Tempting Pumpkin Mocha Cupcake Recipe
Equipment
- large piping bag fitted with a star tip
Ingredients
Pumpkin Mocha Cupcake Ingredients.
- 1 cup flour
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp instant espresso powder
- ½ cup hot water
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 6 tbsp butter softened unsalted sweet cream
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp Pumpkin pie spice
Pumpkin Spice frosting ingredients:
- 1 cup unsalted sweet cream butter softened
- 1 cup shortening
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 5 cup powdered sugar
Decoration ingredients:
- 2 Wilton fall sprinkles
- 12-24 Candy Corn Pumpkins
Instructions
Cupcake Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, pie spice, and salt until combined
- Using a small bowl, combine the water, espresso powder, cocoa, and whisk until combined.
- Using a standing mixer, cream together the sugar and butter.
Beat in the eggs, oil, and vanilla until combined. - Alternating between the espresso mixture and flour mixture, gradually mix in both until combined.
- Scoop batter into cupcake liners filling about 3/4 full.
Bake in the oven for 21 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. - Allow cooling completely on the counter before frosting.
Pumpkin Spice frosting Directions:
- Using a standing mixer, beat together the butter and shortening until smooth.
- Mix in the pumpkin puree and the pumpkin spice.
- Gradually mix in the powdered sugar until combined.
- Continue to mix until smooth and creamy and stiff.
- Scoop 1 ½ C of frosting into a piping bag.
Decorating the cupcakes:
- Pour the sprinkles into a bowl.
- Using a small ice cream scooper, scoop some frosting onto the top of the cupcakes, and using a butter knife, smooth it into a thick disk.
- Dip the frosting into the sprinkles and completely coat it.
- Using the piping bag, pipe a dollop of frosting onto the center.
- Place a candy pumpkin in the center.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
The Origin of Halloween as it Dates Back
Jack-O’-Lanterns, originated in Ireland using turnips instead of pumpkins, are supposedly based on a legend about Stingy Jack. Stingy Jack trapped the Devil and only let him go only if he promised that Jack wouldn’t go to hell. Heaven didn’t want his soul either, so he had to go around the Earth as a ghost forever. In order to find his way, the Devil gave Jack a piece of burning coal in a turnip that was cut out to light his way. Eventually, locals began carving scary faces into their gourds to scare off evil spirits.
Celtic people believed that Samhain, which marked the transition to the new year at the end of the harvest and beginning of the winter, believed that spirits walked the Earth during the festival. Later, the introduction of All Souls Day on November 2 by Christian missionaries perpetuated the idea of mingling between the living and the dead around the same time of year.
Candy Apple Eating and Treats
The first notion of offering candy apples at Halloween didn’t occur until the 1950s.
People have been preserving fruit by using sugar syrup for preservation for hundreds of years.
Bobbing for Apples
This game goes back to a courting ritual that was part of a Roman festival honoring Pomona, the goddess of agriculture and abundance. Different variations existed, but the basic idea was that young men and women would look into their upcoming relationships based on the bobbing festivities.
FOR THE CANDY CORN LOVERS
A candy maker at the Wunderlee Candy Company in Philadelphia came up with the tri-color candy during the 1880s. These treats didn’t become widespread until another company brought candy to all of the small stores they could in 1898.
Back then, candy corn was called Chicken Feed with the slogan “Something worth crowing for.” Originally just fall sweets because of corn’s association with harvest time. Candy corn became Halloween-specific when trick-or-treating rose to prominence in the U.S. in the 1950s.
Halloween Decor and More
Black and Orange Decor
The classic Halloween colors originates back to the Celtic festivals. Black was the “death” of summer while orange stands for the autumn harvest season.
Some speculate that the candy offerings come from the Scottish practice of disguising, itself a secular version of souling. During the Middle Ages, soulers, usually children and less fortunate adults would go to neighborhood homes and get food or money in return for prayers said for the dead on All Souls’ Day. Others opted instead of the prayers in favor of non-religious performances like jokes, songs, or other “tricks.”
Some argue that our modern trick-or-treating stems from belsnickling, a tradition in German-American communities where children dress in costumes. The children would then call on their neighbors to see if the adults could guess their disguised guests’ identities. In one version of the practice, the children are rewarded with food or other treats if no one could identify them.
Trick or Treating on Halloween
The act of going door-to-door for candy or treats has long been a part of Halloween festivities. During the middle of the 20th century, the “treats” kids received were not necessarily candy. Coins, toys, fruit, and nuts were just as likely to be given out. The rise in the popularity of trick-or-treating in the 1950s inspired candy companies to make a marketing push with small, individually wrapped confections. People obliged out of convenience, but individual candies weren’t the only thing offered of other treats until parents started getting nervous with anything unwrapped in the 1970s.
To see another fun cupcake recipe you will find Chocolate Trick or Treat Cupcakes.
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