Friday, December 10, 2010

Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and the blog turns 1!



Wow... it happened... this blog turned a year old! Happy bloggiversary to me! It's amazing to see how much this blog has changed my life and how much my life has changed in a year. 

A year ago I was in Boston, now I'm in Portland. I was working at a company, praying to get admitted in a PhD program. Today, I'm a PhD student, with a lab, a project and a fantastic boss. (For real, no ass kissing). I've made tons of new friends, I've said see you later to the old ones, I've cried, laughed and got my heart broken.


 
This is my 94th post. Crazy huh? 94 recipes shared with all of you. 94 recipes that have allowed me to share my sorrows, my happiness, my struggles in the kitchen and outside of it. And most importantly, to meet amazing people in the blogging world. Like Maria, who's become one of my closest friends, even if she's all the way back in Spain.  

There's also all those blogs that inspire me, because of their recipes, their photos and the people who write them. Megan, Steph , Ellie, Carmen, 'the reds' and



The pictures have also gotten better, even if they could still improve a lot! I have to thank Foodgawker and Tastespotting for accepting my pictures and for making me really mad when they didn't. Because that made me put even more effort into taking 'good enough' food porn. I can't forget 'Baking is Hot' either. Specially Patty for being such a nice gal and always willing to post my recipes.


And last but not at all least. I have to say thank you to all my testers. To all the friends, roommates, labmates and coworkers who've eaten everything that's been baked in my kitchen. Thanks for your smiles, for your hunger, for your complaints about gaining weight and for your praise over this blog. I wouldn't bake if I didn't have amazing eaters around me.


And now for the recipe!

Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground cinnamon (or as much as you like)
¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs

For the frosting:
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar (or more depending on how sweet you want it)

Preheat your oven to 350 F
In a bowl, mix the oil, brown sugar and pumpkin. Add the eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda and the spices. Add the dry mix to the wet mix in increments. Do not overmix or your cupcakes will be heavy.
Pour the batter into lined muffin tins. They should be about 3/4 full. I used mini muffin liners to have 'bite size' cupcakes but you can use whatever size you'd like. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Make sure to check them at the 15 min mark. 

For the frosting. Beat together the cream cheese, sugar and maple syrup until the consistency is right. If the frosting is too runny add more sugar. It should be 'hard' enough that you can frost the cupcakes with a spatula or pipe them with a bag. 

Once the cupcakes are baked, let them cool and then frost. While they are cooling, make sure to keep your frosting cold or it will become too soft. 


And because it's my blogiversary, I'm gonna allow myself the license of posting a picture of me. Frosting a cupcake. Because it's ok to do so once a year! (and yes, it was cold and I was wearing a hat inside the house...)

 


12 comments:

Renata said...

Happy Blogoversary! Mine has just turned 1 also and not very different from you, it has changed my life! The pumpkin cakes look delicious!!

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday to your blog! It sounds like you've had quite a year and really forged ahead with your life and blog.
I know I was kinda stunned when I realized my boat blog was 1 year old. How could it have been that long!

Tiffany @ Conor & Bella said...

Happy blog birthday! And pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting sound so good right now.

Unknown said...

Happy Bloggy Anniversary - these pumpkin cupcakes look delicious! I know what you mean about TS and FG not accepting, it drove me up the wall!
:-)

Adriana said...

Happy blogoversary! Your pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting look delicious. My blog turns one in February, and you're right, blogs can really change peoples' lives.

Mercè said...

Per molts anys Adri!!! I per molts més et puguem continuar llegint! ;)
I quin honor està entre la llista de blogs que t'inspiren! :)
M'ha agradat molt la foto on surts tu en acció. :) I els cupcakes de carbassa... una delícia! M'emporto la recepta que amb tanta carbassa ja no sé què fer. ;)
Un petonàs!
PS: Això que comentes del boss... espera't a dir-ho al final del Ph.D. ;)

La cuina vermella said...

Estimada amiga, moltes gràcies per anomenar-nos en aquest meravellós post d'aniversari, estem contents per tu, per la teva felicitat i per la teva vida tan plena de bones sorpreses. De debó, ja saps on ens tens, per el que necessitis. Mil petons i per molts d'anys més!

Maria said...

Primer de tot, moltissimes felicitats! Realment això de tindre un blog es impressionant

Segon, estic totalment afalagada, jeje sóc jo!!
La veritat es que a mi tb m'ha canviat molt la vida el blog, i sobretot coincidir amb tu, realment hem conectat! Ets la meva amiga de Boston (jeje, a vilanova tothom et coneix aixi, encara que ara ja no hi siguis)

En fi, que m'encanten les teves receptes, i que aqui estic pel que calgui, blog o no blog, tu ja saps! ;-P
Moltes gràcies per tot i per decidir-te a crear aquest raconet!
Muaks

Dee D. said...

happy blogversary! Your cupcakes look adorable and delicious!! My blog turns one in july :)

redmenace said...

Happy anniversary. 94 posts is a lot. You should be very proud! I'm glad you've found a new home and so many wonderful things to be thankful this year. Happy you're enjoying the PNW too! The cupcakes are wonderful too. Did your kitty enjoy them?

Maduixa said...

Adri, bonica, ja et trobava a faltar! però quantes coses! en primer lloc moltíssimes felicitats, penso veure com compleixes molts blocaniversaris més! sempre es un plaer llegir-te a tu i les teves receptes, i veure les teves fotografies.

Estic molt contenta que puguis mirar enrere i dir que has complert allò que et proposaves, tot i que hagis hagut de deixar amics pel camí.

He quedat ben espantada del fred que deveu estar passant :-), aqui en fa molt però no tant com per haver d'anar amb barret per casa :-))

un petó ben fort i una abraçada grossa per a que et treguis aquest fred de sobre! :-))

LeGwen said...

These sounded delicious, so I had to try them. As I started the recipe and got to the "add the pumpkin" part and realized that I had no pumpkin but I had a can of organic sweet potato puree. They were incredible. I love this recipe. Thank you, this is now a Hamilton Family recipe.

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