Happy National Vanilla Cupcake Day!

Sometimes I wonder who makes up these crazy days, but today I will be happy with National Vanilla Cupcake Day. Vanilla cupcakes are usually last on my list to eat because they seem so blah to me, but sometimes a good vanilla vanilla cupcake will hit the spot. One of my favorite birthday desserts growing up was funfetti cupcakes with vanilla frosting.

Speaking of my birthday, I'm still trying to determine where I want my birthday cupcakes to come from next week (November 19). Someone suggested that I have a cupcake potluck and have everyone bring their favorite cupcakes. I'm liking this idea!

Pumpkin Something

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One of my favorite desserts growing up was Pumpkin Something. Pumpkin what? Yes, it was called Pumpkin Something. I recently made it for the first time since I've been married. My husband fell even more in love with me!

Duncan Hines has a recipe for Pumpkin Pie Crunch, which is pretty similar to my mom's Pumpkin Something (minus the pecans). If you're looking for something a little sweeter than pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, give this a try. I promise it will be a hit!

Pumpkin Pie Crunch/Pumpkin Something

Ingredients:
1 16oz. can pumpkin puree
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
3 large eggs
1-1/2 cups sugar
4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1 box Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of 13x9 pan.

2. Combine pumpkin, evaporated milk, eggs, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and salt in large bowl. Stir until well blended. Pour into pan. Sprinkles dry cake mix evenly over pumpkin mixture. Drizzle with melted butter.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes. Cool completely. Top with whipped cream (optional). Refrigerate leftovers, if any.

Thanksgiving Cupcakes at Crumbs

It makes me happy when cupcakeries come out with special holiday flavors. It makes me think that they actually care about my cupcake happiness. Crumbs has a Thanksgiving collection of cupcakes that sounds scrumptious!

Apple Pie
Pumpkin
Chocoberry
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Vanilla Chocolate
Vanilla Vanilla

The "Thanksgiving Collection" of six cupcakes is $27.00 and the "Thanksgiving Tastepack" of 12 smaller cupcakes is $24.00.

Crumbs has five locations in California:
Beverly Hills, Calabasas, Glendale, Larchmont, and Malibu.

Recipes for Winning Cupcakes!

I'm always on the look-out for delicious cupcake recipes. But even if I find a recipe that sounds good, I'm always a little nervous that it won't be quite what I hoped for.

SF Food Wars has published recipes of some of the winning cupcakes from the SF Food Wars: Mini Cupcake Clash. Luckily, I know these recipes are fantastic because I already tasted the final results!

Recipe for "My Grandma's Bananas"
winner of People's Choice Award and Judge's 2nd Place

Recipe for "It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!"
winner of People's Choice Honorable Mention

Recipe for "Cinnamon Horchata"
winner of Judge's 3rd place

Interesting note: noticed that "My Grandma's Bananas" used a yellow cake mix...from a box! (Gasp!) That cupcake won the People's Choice award, so maybe using a box mix isn't so bad. But if you're going to use a box mix, I would suggest adding your own twist to make it a little different.

Want to know more about this event? Check out my coverage of the SF Foods Wars: Mini Cupcake Clash

• Mini Cupcake Clash Competitors (Part 1)
• Mini Cupcake Clash Competitors (Part 2)
• Mini Cupcake Clash Competitors (Part 3)
• SF Food Wars: Mini Cupcake Clash

Pioneer Woman and Sweet Tooth Fairy Cupcakes

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Spotted: Pioneer Woman with cupcakes from the Sweet Tooth Fairy. Photo courtesy of Utah Loves Cupcakes.

Other news from Sweet Tooth Fairy: they just announced the location of their second cupcakery. Utah is becoming a hot spot for cupcake shops. I can't wait for my next visit there so I can try some new places!

Posh Pumpkin Cupcakes

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I think I only need a few words to grab your interest in this cupcake:

Cranberry Pumpkin Cupcake
Dulce de Leche Cream Filling
Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
Pumpkin Mousse

Yes, please. I'll take two.

Came across this cupcake on a blog called One Imaginary Girl. She calls her creation Posh Pumpkin Cupcakes. I don't care what she calls them, they sound so amazing! She writes, "You had four different textures in one bite." Please stop, you don't need to do any more convincing, I really want one. Luckily, the recipes (yes, multiple recipes, one for each part of the cupcake) are published on her blog. Go here.

Sprinkles Cupcake Mixes from Williams-Sonoma

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Have you ever tried making cupcakes using the Sprinkles Cupcake Mixes from Williams-Sonoma? Lucy Baker from Serious Eats has and she gives the pumpkin mix a thumbs-up. I would love to give it a try, but $14 just seems like a lot for a cupcake mix. What do you think?

Thanksgiving Cupcakes 2009

Let's start off my favorite month of the year with some Thanksgiving cupcakes ideas!

Martha Stewart has a dessert for every holiday.

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Hard to believe this is really a cupcake. If you have a lot of free time, you might be able to recreate this Thanksgiving dinner cupcake.

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I posted about Bakerella's Pumpkin Pie Bites a few weeks ago. Luckily, Halloween and Thanksgiving both have a pumpkin theme.

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These mini pumpkin pie cupcakes are so cute. They don't look too hard to bake.

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Here's a good use for your leftover Halloween candy corn.

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Last, my favorite find of the day, a Sweet Potato Casserole Cupcake filled with jellied cranberry and topped with toasted marshmallows. I'm pretty sure I want to attempt to make this for Thanksgiving. It's a cool take on the regular Thanksgiving dish, with a little cupcake twist.

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No Time to Rest!

Halloween just ended, but there is so much work to do before the end of the year! Thanksgiving is in a few weeks, then Christmas, plus there's shopping to do, desserts to be made, don't forget those birthdays in between the holidays, parties to rush to, work off those extra calories at the gym, plus you still have to go to work! Ahhhh!!

Take a deep breath...it will be ok. We will get through this. Take another deep breath. Much better.

I can't do your shopping for you or attend that boring work party, but I can help you in the dessert department. I will be posting many festive holiday cupcake ideas and recipes over the next two months. I might even post a few non-cupcake recipes too! Check back often to get some ideas. Good luck!

Happy Halloween

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Happy Halloween readers! Have a safe and fun Halloween!

Need some last-minute cupcake ideas? Check out my Halloween cupcake posts:
Halloween Cupcakes 2009
More Halloween Cupcakes 2009
Halloween Cupcakes 2008
More Halloween Cupcakes 2008