Fall is here!

To sound super cliche: it’s fall y’all! When it comes to fall, I am extremely basic. I am so excited to start wearing my winter clothes again (I’m so tired of shorts), I love Halloween decorations and candy, and I LOVE pumpkin flavored desserts. That’s why I’m so excited to share this recipe! I want to be transparent about all my recipes, so this is not one that I came up with from scratch. I first made the “Super Moist Pumpkin Bread” from Broma Bakery. It is a super great recipe and so delicious. I made a few changes, like adding cream cheese frosting, changing the ratios of some of the ingredients, and adding sour cream.

I think this cream cheese frosting is so delicious and adds the perfect amount of sweetness to the recipe. 3/4 cup sugar may not sound like a lot, but I prefer the bread itself to not be too sweet on its own. That way, the cream cheese doesn’t make the sweetness too overpowering. I used vanilla paste in my recipe, which I recommend, because I think it adds a better vanilla flavor than imitation vanilla, although that works perfect too. I’m also partial to vanilla paste because it adds the black specks that shows it’s made from actual vanilla beans. The paste I used is homemade, but Trader Joe’s has a very good vanilla paste too.

This recipe is quite versatile because I also made cupcakes with it! I feel like pumpkin flavored cupcakes are usually called muffins, but c’mon that is definitely just a cupcake. I doubled the frosting recipe because I wanted to use this set of piping tips I just bought from IKEA! If you’re frosting them like I do in the photo I would recommend doubling the recipe, but that was really just for show. If you’re icing them a normal amount, then a regular batch of frosting will do. This batch makes 16 cupcake in a standard cupcake tin. Just pour the batter in to about 2/3 of the way up the cupcake liner. They will have to bake for a lot less time, about 20-25 minutes.

Materials

You can see that I’m using a stand mixer, but you really don’t need one for this recipe. For the pumpkin bread you can use a stand mixer or hand mixer, but it’s not necessary, you can just stir these ingredients together with a spoon or spatula. When it comes to the frosting, some sort of mixer is very helpful. A stand/hand mixer is able to whip up the butter and cream cheese together nicely. And the sugar combines with the other ingredients much easier. That being said, a mechanical mixer is still not necessary. I’ve made frosting plenty of times without a mixer, and it always comes out great tasting, it may just be a little lumpy. But don’t feel like you need any fancy equipment to cook or bake! I’m lucky that I was able to get my stand mixer secondhand, so it was free. But even before that, I would use a hand mixer I got from Walmart for $30 (and that was one of the more expensive Walmart hand mixers.) My point is, baking is accessible to anyone. You don’t need a $400 stand mixer or a $200 fancy name-brand dutch oven. I hear a lot of people say they “can’t” bake or cook, but if you can read a recipe and own some measuring cups, I think you’re pretty much golden. Anyway, that’s my soapbox so now I’ll get onto the recipe!

Ingredients

Ingredients for Pumpkin Bread:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp all spice
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup canola (or vegetable) oil
• 1/3 cup sour cream or greek yogurt

Ingredients for Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1/4 block of cream cheese (2 oz or 4 tbsp), softened
• 2 tbsp butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Making the Pumpkin Bread:

1. Grease a loaf pan with butter or spray oil and preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Add all of the dry ingredients into your stand mixer or a large bowl and whisk together until combined. Once that’s done, add in the all of the wet ingredients to the dry. Stir all of the ingredients together until just combined and you no longer see streaks of flour. If you’re using a stand mixer, I recommend starting on a low setting to make sure the flour doesn’t get thrown out of the bowl all over you (made that mistake before).
3. Once mixed together, just scoop it into your loaf pan and put it in the oven. It will bake for 45-55 minutes. Bake time can vary a lot, so I like to base it on whether a toothpick stuck inside comes out mostly clean. That’s when I know it’s done.

Making the Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. Put the softened cream cheese and butter in a stand mixer or bowl. Mix together until combined.
2. Add in the vanilla and powdered sugar. Whip all of the ingredients together until combines and airy. If you like a thinner frosting to drizzle on the cake, feel free to add some milk. If you want a thicker frosting that will keeps its shape on a cupcake, add some more powdered sugar.

Putting it all together!

Make sure you let your bread/cupcakes cool for at least an hour. They should be nearly room temp before you add the frosting, or else it all melts right off. Like I said, I was excited about my new piping tips so I used those, but slathering some frosting onto a cupcake with a knife still looks really good. I’m telling you, this recipe is so freaking delicious! Let me know if you try it and how you like it.