Halloween Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 2 organic oranges
• 1 Vanilla bean
• 350 g pumpkin flesh (e.g., Hokkaido)
• 50 g whole cane sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 2 tbsp milk (3.5% fat)
• 170 g spelt flour type 1050
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 1 tsp cocoa powder
• 500 g cream cheese
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
• orange food coloring
• black food coloring

Instructions

1. 1.

   Wash the oranges hot, pat dry, grate the zest, halve the fruit and squeeze out the juice. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise. Dice the pumpkin flesh, steam with the vanilla bean and orange juice for 10–15 minutes until soft, remove the bean and finely puree the pumpkin.

2. 2.

   Line a muffin or cupcake tin with black paper liners.

3. 3.

   Add the whole cane sugar, eggs, and milk to the pumpkin puree. Mix the zest with flour, baking powder, ground cloves, and cocoa, then stir into the pumpkin mixture until a smooth batter forms. Fill the liners and bake in a preheated oven at 200 °C (180 °C fan; gas level 3) for about 25 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.

4. 4.

   For the frosting, blend cream cheese with honey and lemon juice until creamy. Divide the mixture into two bowls and color one bright orange and the other black with food coloring. Fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip with both frosts, ensuring each half of the cupcakes receives only one color. Pipe onto the cupcakes and decorate with small witch broomsticks if desired.