msc: pumpkin patch cupcakes (aka MY PICK!)

Yeah! My pick. This is the first time (in my short food blogging adventures) of getting to pick a recipe. So if you hated these you can blame me and the little pumpkin decorations. It was the pumpkins that drew me in. I won't feel bad if you leave me sad faces in the comments. I also picked these because I wanted something that was season appropriate. Nothing screams fall like pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger and cloves.

So after I totally rocked it in the kitchen and made the best pumpkin patch cupcakes ever I realized that I totally forgot to take any action shots. Now you probably don't believe me that these were the best pumpkin patch cupcakes ever. You'll just have to trust me.

I only made half of the recipe since a full recipe makes 32. That's a lot of cupcakes. I also made a half recipe of the cream cheese frosting. Martha's cream cheese frosting recipe makes a ridiculous amount of frosting. But it tastes so good.

Since these were my pick I figured I had to at least try and attempt the marzipan pumpkin decoration. I did not however attempt to make my own marzipan. I picked up a tube of marzipan at Whole Foods. I colored about 2/3 of the marzipan with red and yellow gel food coloring to make orange for the pumpkins. I tinted the remaining marzipan with green food coloring. To make the cute little pumpkins you roll the orange marzipan into approximately 3/4 inch balls. You then make a little hole in the top and press a toothpick along the sides from top to bottom to make the pumpkin ridges. I tried to find a leaf cutter at Michael's and then Williams Sonoma with no luck. All the leaf cutters I found were huge. I thought about cutting out my own leaves but went the lazy route and decided to just make stems. These are pumpkin patch cupcakes that have been cut from the vine and are now sitting on straw bales waiting to be picked by some cute little tot.

Does anyone like the taste of marzipan? I can't stand it. Pete didn't like it either. The pumpkins ended up in the trash but at least they looked cute first.

I've had some issues with just slathering frosting on cupcakes. Last time I did that with this cream cheese frosting my cupcakes looked like they were wearing helmets. Not an attractive look. This time I decided I would pipe it on and then place the little pumpkins in the center. Pete was impressed with my mad decorating skills. The pumpkins were really easy to make and would be a great activity for kids to help with. Anyone have a kid I can borrow to make more of these pumpkins?

So you are probably wondering how these tasted. They were good. I didn't love them but I found them tasty. Pete did most of the work in the eating department. He loved them. These are a nice fall treat and I think most people would enjoy them. You can find the recipe on page 236 of Martha Stewart's Cupcake book. We are not supposed to post the recipe but I think with some google searches you could find it or you could buy the book.

Thanks everyone for baking along with me this week. I hope you liked these and if not my apologies. Blame the cute little pumpkins. I couldn't resist. Make sure you check out what all the other bakers did with this recipe at MS: Cupcakes Club.