Ingredients
- 1 1/2 all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 3 large eggs
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons milk
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon pure maple extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Graham cracker mix:
- Melt butter in microwave in small glass bowl. In small bowl mix graham cracker crumbs and sugar together. Stir in melted butter to graham cracker crumbs and press together by hand. Add a pinch of cinnamon for spiced flavor if desired. Set aside.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low-medium speed, beat the butter, sugar and pumpkin until smoothly blended. Mix in the eggs. On low speed, mix in the flour mixture until it is incorporated. The batter will be thick.
- Line 12 cup cupcake or muffin pan. Fill bottom layer of papers with graham cracker mix to form crust. Fill remainder of papers 3/4-full with batter. Bake until the cupcakes are puffed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool the cupcakes completely.
- Cream butter and sugar 1-2 minutes or until fluffy. Add salt and milk until creamy. Scrape mixing bowl walls with rubber spatula and add maple extract. Mix until creamy consistency.
- To assemble:
- Brush tops of cupcakes evenly/generously with maple syrup. Allow cupcakes to absorb syrup. Generously frost each cupcake with a pastry bag and cut 1/2-inch off the tip. Roll sides of frosting in graham cracker crumbs. Lastly drizzle maple syrup on top as desired.
Reviews
Fantastic! I used fresh sugar pumpkin, added coriander, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice, and took away the crust and made a caramel maple frosting with one of those frosting creations things. They’re fabulous! Moist and pumpkiny and spicy– they taste like fall!! I made mini cupcakes and my baking time was 15 minutes. They’re a hit even amongst anti pumpkin crowds!
I made these cupcakes for my daughters fall fair bake sale and they were a huge hit!!! Absolutly delicious :
These were great! Had many request for them. The only thing I changed was instead of using graham crackers for crust and topping, I used ginger snaps. Cut the sweetness just perfectly. YUM, Soooo good!!!!
Loved these cupcakes and everyone else who tried it loved them. Only change was that instead of butter for the cupcakes, I used coconut oil. Also, didn’t have maple extract, so I used maple syrup.
I didn’t use the graham cracker crust either. I switched the buttercream for a cream cheese based frosting, adding maple extract and about two tablespoons of pumpkin. The cake was wonderful! The perfect balance of flavors and it was really airy. I am very pleased with this one.
I didn’t use the graham cracker crust, or the maple buttercream. Instead I used my maple cream cheese frosting. The cake is spiced perfect, not to strong. It is moist and not too dense. I loved it!
This cupcake has all the flavors of fall! Awesome!!! Very rich and moist!
I think if this recipe won the Cupcake War the loosers must have really been bad. The recipe is poorly writen (1 1/2 ? flour, 2 kinds of sugar was called for but recipe didn’t say which to use where etc). The cupcakes were dry and did not taste good. Didn’t bother to make the frosting, it would have had to be some really good frosting to save those cupcakes. Dogs gave them 5 stars.
delicious, for frosting if using imitation maple flavoring, double it & add 1 t vanilla, or use maple syrup