Monday, November 12, 2007

Didn't thrill me
--Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes



Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
Pillsbury Complete Cook Book Copyright 2000, 2006

1 (1 lb 2 2.5 oz) pkg. pudding-included yellow cake mix
1 cup canned pumpkin
½ cup water
1/3 cup oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Cinnamon Frosting

2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 (16-oz) can vanilla frosting

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper baking cups. In large bowl combine all cupcake ingredients except chocolate chips; beat at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at high speed. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill paper-lined muffin cups ¾ full.
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove from pan; cool 20 minutes or until completely cooled.
3. Stir cinnamon into vanilla frosting. Frost cooled cupcakes.
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My mother-in-law gave me two boxes of cake mix out of the blue so I went searching for recipes. This is the recipe that caught my eye. I hesitated when it came to canned frosting but I recently had a boxed mix cupcake with canned frosting at my son's fall daycare party and I thought it was the best thing I ever had! They must have used a different brand because I wasn't thrilled with this frosting, maybe because I cheaped out and bought store brand. It was a lot easier than making my own frosting and I don't know if the cupcakes themselves deserved any better. They weren't bad but although they looked pumpkin-y they didn't have a strong pumpkin flavor. The flavor that hit you the most was the semi-sweet chocolate chips.

I don't know what I'll do with all of these cupcakes because I don't think that they're good enough for work and we certainly won't eat them all.

I just remembered that I need to bake a batch of cupcakes for my son again too (to keep in the freezer). He's down to his last and he has a couple of birthdays coming up this week. I should have just made these plain. I do have another box in the cupboard.

Blast From The Past: Gooey Butter Cakes from May 2006. I could have made these and taken them to work. I saw Paula Deen selling these for a small fortune on one of the shopping channels. Unbelievable!

Question of the Day: Do you have any good recipes that use boxed cake mix (yellow)?

7 comments:

Heather said...

just one for what I call cake cookies. You don't add any water I think and the batter will make cookies instead of cake. I am sure you can find the recipe on line.
I usually make them from Funfetti or chocolate cake, but it can be made from any flavor.
You can also choose to frost or not to frost.

Randi said...

Do you have any of the cake mix doctor books? I have made more than a few recipes from those books. If you like coconut, I have a good recipe for a coconut cake using a mix. btw, if you ever want to buy a mix, the vanilla or french vanilla tastes slightly less artificial than the yellow.

Oh, I just thought about the bacardi rum cake. Thats pretty good and uses a yellow mix.

Unknown said...

I have a recipe for a chocolate chip pound cake and for a "honey bun" cake that people bring to sunday school a lot. They're both really good!

Anonymous said...

I have made an amazing upside down pineapple cake using yellow cake mix... I found the recipe on the Betty Crocker website. I recently made pumpkin bread using cake mix, but I used spice mix and it came out wonderful. I always use aaa-recipes.com when I am looking for recipes based around a single ingredient.
KELLY :)

Rachael Narins said...

I have been doing a lot with pumpkin lately, and I realized, it really hasnt got much taste! I think the "taste" is really the spices we put into pies! LOL.

Anonymous said...

Two that I make are cakes. One is strawberry, which uses frozen strawberries and has a glaze (white cake mix). The other is called apricot cake (yellow cake mix). Has apricot nectar and lemon jello powder in it. Also with a glaze.

Jan

Anonymous said...

Two that I make are cakes. One is strawberry, which uses frozen strawberries and has a glaze (white cake mix). The other is called apricot cake (yellow cake mix). Has apricot nectar and lemon jello powder in it. Also with a glaze.

Jan