Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Not too long ago, the Sinful Southern Sweets family took a little trip to the Pumpkin Patch. This is always a fun trip for the girls.  Pull up a stool and enjoy our little outing before we move on to the recipe for today.

Before letting them participate in any of the farm-type fun, I made them have a little "photo shoot." I’m a mean mommy. But, they will thank me one day….maybe. Here are some of our Pre-Pumpkin Patch pics. Notice, that Princess Runwild did not have on Fall colors, like Runwilder and me. She insisted the fall colors did not “agree” with her that day. As frustrating as it may be, you have to applaud her on her reasoning skills.

Later, we enjoyed the corn trough.

Look at those girls make corn-angels. I wanted to make a corn-angel too, but as I hoisted my leg over the wall into the corn trough,  Princess Runwild looked at me with a mortified glare. So, I refrained. They never let me have fun….

Here the girls rode the tire swings. I didn't get to ride those either :(

Say what you want, but whoever thought to carve tires into horses was genius! Well, at least the girls seemed to think so. Smiles all around..
My favorite was the cow train. See for yourself...

And finally, after various other activities, we made it on the hayride to find our pumpkins. Little Runwilder wanted an “itty bitty baby punkin.”

Of course, Runwild wanted the biggest she could carry.

That was the rule….they had to be able to carry it themselves.  I know…as we covered previously...Mean Mommy.  It didn’t work anyways, Mr. Sweets is a big push-over and carried Runwild’s  big pumpkin. He’s sweet like that.

So after a fun-filled pumpkin patch morning what could be better than a pumpkin-patch inspired treat. As I’ve said before, I adore baked goods made with pumpkin. If pumpkin is a favorite of yours too, you will love these Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting. If you have any hesitation about these cupcakes, let me sway you. The icing tastes like something on a Cinnabon cinnamon roll. You know the gigantic cinnamon rolls you buy at the mall. I would have been thrilled to have nothing but a bowl of the icing and a spoon! The pumpkin cupcake just cuts a bit of the sweetness of the icing. Perfect as dessert, but could certainly be served for breakfast. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes with Cinnamon-Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can canned pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon apple pie spice
• 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix with pudding
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
•  1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
•  4 cups confectioners' sugar
•  2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•  2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line muffin tins with cupcake liners. Whisk together the pumpkin, cinnamon, cloves and apple pie spice. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix and oil. Beat in the eggs, then fold in the pumpkin mixture. Stir in the vanilla.
3. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.
4. To make cream cheese frosting: Cream together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Beat in the confectioners' sugar, mixing until smooth. Stir in the cinnamon and vanilla. Spread frosting over cooled cupcakes