Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Caramel Icing

It's almost Halloween and I got the pumpkin urge.  These cupcakes use pumpkin pie spice, which is available this time of year, and is a little easier than measuring out the individual cinnamon, ginger, clove and allspice ingredients.  The batter also uses buttermilk which I think always makes for a better cake.  The icing incorporated a bit of the leftover caramel sauce I made for Apple Walnut Cake posted 9/15/2013.  That stuff would make fish eyeballs tasty. For an extra bit of panache, I decorated with Cracker Jacks. 

Happy Halloween!

For the Cupcakes:

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin

for the Caramel Icing:

12 tbls unsalted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup caramel sauce (see 9/15/2013 blog post)
in a pinch, store bought will work

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixer, beat the butter and sugars until fluffy.  In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.  Add the eggs one at a time with mixer running on medium speed.  Mix the buttermilk and vanilla. Add the dry and wet ingredients alternately, starting and finishing with the dry.  Add the pumpkin and mix until just smooth. Line muffin tin with paper liners. Using and ice cream scoop fill each cup 3/4 full. Sit muffin tin on a baking sheet. Bake 20-25 mins until tooth pick comes out clean.
Cool completely.

In a mixer, beat the room temperature butter until fluffy then add the powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Drizzle in 1/2 cup of caramel. Ice each cup cake and decorate at desired. I used Cracker Jack for fun.