Pumpkin cupcakes
Baked with oil instead of butter: that is why they stay moist and never form a crust
Hello gourmets!
Pumpkin season is here. I brought this recipe back from a trip to the USA, where pumpkin is used in every form in autumn, both sweet and savoury.
One thing will surprise you: there is no butter in it, but oil instead. That is rare here, yet common in the USA. You can taste the difference: these pumpkin spice cupcakes stay very moist and never form a crust on top. They are topped with a whipped vanilla Ganache following a recipe by Philippe Conticini.
The recipe on video
0:25 min
Ingredients
Pumpkin purée
Batter
Vanilla Ganache
Step by step
Pumpkin purée
Peel and dice the pumpkin
For this recipe you need a dense pumpkin with little juice. I use butternut. Peel it and cut it into small cubes so it cooks faster.
Cook and purée
Add 100 ml of water and cook the pumpkin with the lid closed for about 15 minutes. Do not use more water: we need a thick purée. After 15 minutes the pumpkin falls apart on its own; if any water is left, pour it off before puréeing. Then blend into a compact purée.
Let the purée cool
Put the finished purée in the fridge or briefly in the freezer until it is cold. For the batter you need 250 g of it.
Cupcake batter
Dry ingredients
This is an American recipe: all ingredients go into the same Mixing bowl one after another. Start with 200 g flour, 230 g brown sugar, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 g Baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. The baking soda makes the cupcakes rise. Baking powder is added in just a tiny amount, 1 g is about 1/4 teaspoon. A spoon scale or Measuring spoon helps with weighing it out precisely.
Speculaas Liquid aroma
Swiss White flour, 1 kg
Baking powder 80g
Baking soda 100g
Oil, egg, purée and Liquid aroma
Add 100 g rapeseed oil, 1 egg and 250 g pumpkin purée. Rapeseed oil is the most neutral in flavour, sunflower oil works just as well. Add 1.5 tsp speculaas aroma, which goes especially well with pumpkin.
Whip and fill
Whip the mixture for 5 to 10 minutes at high speed. Then place a Piping bag into a Measuring cup without cutting off the tip, so you have both hands free for filling.
Prepare cases and oven
Place the Paper baking cups into the muffin tin, here in black and orange. The tin is essential: without a tin the cupcakes will not turn out round and, above all, they will be dry. Preheat the oven to 160 °C fan.
Baking tin 24 mini cupcakes
Mini Cupcake case "Orange"
Mini Cupcake case "Black"
Disposable piping bag - 41cm - 24pcs
Fill cases to 3/4
Fill the cases to three quarters, no higher, otherwise they will overflow while baking. The recipe makes 45 mini cupcakes (two tins) or 12 classic cupcakes.
Baking
Bake for about 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Bake the trays one after another rather than at the same time, so the cupcakes turn out more even.
Vanilla Ganache
Soak the gelatine
Soak 6 sheets of Gelatine in very cold water. The water really has to be cold, otherwise the gelatine will dissolve in it.
RUF gelatine sheets, 12 pieces
White chocolate for melting
Liquid aroma "Vanilla"
Whisk 29cm
Chocolate and cream
Weigh out 150 g of white chocolate into a glass bowl. Couverture in drops saves you the chopping. In a pot, bring 280 g of full cream to the boil together with 2 to 3 tsp of vanilla aroma.
Stir in the gelatine
Take the pot off the heat, squeeze out the Gelatine and stir it into the hot cream until it has completely dissolved.
Pour over the chocolate
Pour the mixture over the white chocolate, let it melt for 10 to 15 seconds and then stir smooth with the Whisk.
Add cold cream and chill
Finally, pour in the remaining 300 g of full cream and stir everything until homogeneous. Cover the cream with cling film directly on the surface so that no skin forms, and place it in the fridge overnight.
Whip the Ganache
Put the well chilled Ganache into a Mixing bowl and whip it like whipping cream until it becomes firm and forms a beak on the Whisk, about 1 to 3 minutes. Stay close: a few seconds too many and the Ganache will curdle, then it is ruined.
Prepare the piping bag
Fit the 2D Piping nozzle into the Piping bag and fill in the Ganache. The 2D nozzle gives that typical swirl, which looks especially good on mini cupcakes.
White chocolate for melting
Disposable piping bag - 41cm - 24stk
Large flower piping nozzles: 852/2D
Nonpareils - "Halloween" - 80gr
Pipe the swirl
Pipe a swirl onto each cupcake. You can see the motion in the video above.
Scatter on the nonpareils
Finally, scatter the cupcakes with nonpareils in Halloween colours, but only at most an hour before serving, otherwise the Sugar pearls will dissolve on the Ganache.
Pumpkin cupcakes
Ingredients
Pumpkin purée
Dough
Vanilla Ganache
Preparation
- Purée: Peel the butternut, dice it, cook until soft with 100 ml water for 15 min., purée and leave to cool.
- Dough: Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, Baking powder and salt, then add oil, egg, 250 g purée and speculoos aroma.
- Whipping: Whip for 5 to 10 min. on a high setting and fill into the Piping bag.
- Baking: Fill the moulds to 3/4, 20 min. at 160 °C fan, baking trays one after another.
- Ganache: Soak 6 leaves of gelatine, bring 280 g cream to the boil with vanilla, stir in the gelatine, pour over 150 g white chocolate.
- Cooling: Add 300 g cold cream, lay cling film directly on top, place in the fridge overnight.
- Piping: Whip the Ganache like whipped cream (1 to 3 min.) and pipe on as a swirl with the 2D Piping nozzle.
- Decorating: Only scatter on the nonpareils at most one hour before serving.
Nutritional values per 100 g
Storage & shelf life
Everything for this recipe
Recommended from our bakery: exactly the sizes the recipe was tested with.
Ingredients
Spekulatius liquid aroma
Swiss White flour, 1 kg
Baking powder 80g
Baking soda 100g
RUF Gelatine leaves, 12 pieces
White chocolate for melting
Nonpareils - "Halloween" - 80gr
"Vanilla" liquid aroma
Accessories
Baking tin 24 mini cupcakes
Mini Cupcake case "Orange"
Mini Cupcake case "Black"
Disposable piping bag - 41cm - 24pcs
Large flower piping nozzles: 852/2D
Digital spoon scale
Whisk 29cm
Delivery in 1 bis 2 working days · Free shipping from CHF 100
So they turn out perfectly every time
This is not a mistake in the recipe, it is the reason for the moistness: with oil the cupcakes stay soft and don't form a crust on top.
No time for a night in the fridge? 20 minutes in the freezer, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes, then about another hour in the fridge. That is the absolute minimum.
The Ganache curdles within seconds if you over-whip it, and then there is no saving it. Stay right by the mixer.
Frequently asked questions
It is an American recipe, and over there a lot is baked with oil. The difference is clear: the cupcakes stay very moist and don't form a crust on top. Rapeseed oil is the most neutral, sunflower oil works just as well.
Only with the shortcut: 20 minutes in the freezer, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes, then about an hour in the fridge. If the Ganache is too warm, it will curdle immediately when you whip it and you'll have to start over.
Yes. If you bake the paper baking cups free-standing, the cupcakes won't come out round and, above all, they'll be dry. The tin supports them and keeps their shape.
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Comments
Question de Mélanie
By: Mélanie M. On 2023-08-08Bonjour, ayant fait à plusieurs reprises la recette, j'aurais souhaité la garder en tant que base afin d'en faire des goûts différents tout au long de l'année. Elle est top pour periode hivernale/ automnale mais un peu moins actuellement. Que me conseillez-vous pour remplacer la courge afin que ma texture reste identique ? L'idée est de pouvoir en faire des natures, chocolat, framboises etc... Merci d'avance et belle journée ! Prochain essai demain, votre recette de crumble?
Replied by: Laura On 2023-08-09
Question de Christelle
By: Christelle F. On 2022-10-24Bonjour ! À quel moment les cupcakes devraient être montés avec la crème l ? Juste avant de servir ou est ce que la crème tient bien et on peut les préparer quelques heures avant de les servir?
Et que pensez vous si je remplace les épices à spéculos par les épices à pain d’épices ?
D’avance merci !
Replied by: Laura On 2022-10-24
Replied by: Christelle F. On 2022-10-24
Replied by: Laura On 2022-10-24
Question de Vanessa
By: Vanessa G. On 2022-01-07Peut on rajouter du colorant? Pour décorer un cake par exemple? A quel moment rajouter le colorant? Colorant gel ça irait?
Replied by: Karin On 2022-01-10
Réponse à Magalie
By: Cakelicious-Team On 2018-09-18Merci de votre commentaire.
Pour la graduation des cuillères voici l'explication correspondante:
- 2.45 ml / 1/2 Tsp = 1/2 Cuillère à café
- 4.93 ml / 1 Tsp = 1 Cuillère à café
- 7.39 ml / 1/2 Tbs = 1/2 Cuillère à soupe
- 14.79 ml / 1 Tbs = 1 Cuillère à soupe
Belle journée :)