October 18, 2009

MarthaStewartCupcake Club: pumpkin patch cupcakes



this month's martha stewart cupcake club challenge was the perfect opportunity for a fall photo shoot. i figured i should go out for some pumpkin inspiration, so that's what i did (in addition to reading all of the other MSC bloggers who actually posted on time):



pumpkin spice muffins with cream cheese frosting: yum, and not all that tough. i've been baking for quite some time now, so i always have nutmeg, ginger, cloves, & cinnamon on hand, not to mention pumpkin puree. some of the msc bloggers mentioned that pumpkin puree was hard to find this year. a shortage of pumpkin? not in my neck of the woods. even though pumpkins abound in vermont this time of year, i don't think i would ever attempt to make my own from scratch -- kudos to those msc bakers who did.



i was more excited to try my hand at working with marzipan for the first time. in my opinion, martha's cute little hand-made marzipan pumpkins were the piece-de-resistance (please say with french accent) to these fall treats.


the cream cheese frosting was a hit with paul. and our cat... we woke up this morning to find that she had licked the frosting off the 6 cupcakes that we'd left on the counter. exhibit a:



i'm really surprised that martha doesn't have a home-made marzipan recipe in her new cupcake book. it was nice to have the ease of using the pre-made stuff, but i was and am eager to try making it from scratch, or at least from almond paste. does anyone have a good marzipan recipe? i'll keep looking.



the marzipan was really easy to work with -- just a little messy adding the dye. but they sure were delish!



and, as i mentioned before, they stole the fall photo shoot show.



i have a job next weekend for a maple-sugarer's birthday, and am going to make marzipan maple leaves as cupcake toppers. glad to have had the practice this week.


special thanks to kim from what the whisk for picking this month's recipe. november's challenge will be candied sweet potato cupcakes chosen by karen of karen's cookies, cakes, & more. make sure you check out the other msc bakers creations. nice baking with y'all! happy fall.

1 comment:

Annette said...

Your marzipan cupcakes are so cute! They look like fun to make.