Stuffed Gingerbread Cupcakes with Pumpkin Pudding and Cream Cheese Frosting

Life has been crazy lately and I haven't had the opportunity to post as usual.  Hopefully this week I'll be able to get more than one post in - at least that's my goal.

For those of you that have been following me for a while you might remember when I posted my Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle.  Well this year for Thanksgiving I decided to use portions of that recipe only this time I made cupcakes.  

Since I wasn't serving an army of people this year I felt cupcakes would hold out better if all weren't eaten.  The trifle on the other hand doesn't look so appealing to go back to for leftovers when only a portion is eaten, so cupcakes were the perfect solution.

I made the recipe as described here for the Gingerbread Cake except, I poured the batter into a large 6 cup muffin tin, unlined, but sprayed with non-stick spray.

Then I made the recipe for the Pumpkin Pudding only dividing the recipe in 1/2 as follows:

Pumpkin Pudding:

1 box vanilla instant pudding (3 1/8 oz size)
1/2 (15 oz) can pumpkin pie filling
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp pure vanilla

Prepare vanilla pudding according to package instructions.

Combine pudding with the pumpkin pie filling. Fold in brown sugar and spices. Cover and chill.  

After cupcakes have come out of the oven and cooled, poke a large hole in the center of each cupcake using the stick of a round wooden spoon or similar (only poke hole 3/4 of the way into the cupcake).

Place pudding into a pastry bag or zip lock baggy and snip bottom or corner and squeeze pudding into cupcake hole until fills to the top.  Level off, then spread with cream cheese frosting.  (See recipe)

Cream Cheese Frosting:

12 ounces cream cheese, softened 

3/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar 

3/4 cup powdered sugar
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter,
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Beat cream cheese, 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla. 

In another bowl whisk cream and 3/4 cup powdered sugar to firm peaks. Fold in cream cheese mixture. Chill 1 hour or until firm but spreadable. Spread or pipe onto cupcakes.  If desired top with crush gingersnaps, candied ginger, ginger sugar or simply leave with the luscious flavor of the cream cheese icing.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

This Thanksgiving I decided to make something different for dessert that I thought most everyone would enjoy, and they did! It was a Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle. I will say that the next time I make this, and there will be a next time, I will layer them in Individual Trifle Bowls
I think that the presentation is beautiful in one large bowl however, unless you have an army of people that you're serving you won't make a dent in the trifle. Thus, leaving a half eaten bowl of a luscious dessert that's difficult to store.

I think arranging the ingredients in individual trifle bowls or deep small glasses with or without a stem would suffice and quite frankly wouldn't take much more time to prep for. If you're not looking for the WOW factor of presenting this dish you could even layer it in a 9x13 glass bowl.

This dessert turned out so delicious! The colors layered together look like fall and although brown isn't the most appetizing color of food, this dish was scrumptuous.

I combined several recipes that I've used before plus a recipe for the Guinness Gingerbread Cake in Nigella Lawsons new book, Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home A great book with lots of wonderful recipes.

This Gingerbread Cake is so good and moist. Although finding Lyle's Golden Syrup wasn't easy, I did find it at Global Foods here in St Louis, and it can be ordered online as well. You could substitute it with a light molasses but after tasting Lyle's Golden Syrup I would definitely try to locate it in your area or order it. It had a smooth rich buttery taste, nothing that I had ever tasted before. It's well worth it to find it.

In addition, I had planned to make a homemade pumpkin pudding and was certain I had all the ingredients on hand. However, when I went to put them together I noticed I didn't have enough of one ingredient. So I used 2 packages of instant vanilla pudding that I had on hand, then added the pumpkin pie filling and doctored it up a bit as you can see below in my recipe. It turned out as good as homemade.

The whipped cream filling and topping I make this way, so that it holds up and doesn't collapse. It's perfect for fillings and quite tasty.

I hope that if you try this recipe, you will love it just as much as my family and friends did. In fact, it improves with flavor as the days go by without the gingerbread getting soggy.

Here's my recipe:

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle
serves 15-20


Guiness Gingerbread Cake

Ingredients:

•1 1/4 sticks 10 (tablespoons) butter, plus some for greasing
•1 cup golden syrup (such as Lyle's)
•1 cup (packed) plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
•1 cup stout (such as Guinness), which I used
•2 teaspoons ground ginger
•2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
•1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
•2 cups all-purpose flour
•2 teaspoons baking soda
•1 1/4 cups sour cream
•2 eggs
•1 rectangular aluminium foil pan or cake pan, approximately 13 by 9 by 2-inches

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Line your cake pan with aluminium foil and grease it, or grease your foil tray.

Put the butter, syrup, dark brown sugar, stout, ginger, cinnamon and ground cloves into a pan and melt gently over a low heat.

Take off the heat and whisk in the flour and baking soda. You will need to be patient and whisk thoroughly to get rid of any lumps.

Whisk the sour cream and eggs together in a measuring jug and then beat into the gingerbread mixture, whisking again to get a smooth batter.

Pour this into your cake/foil pan, and bake for about 45 minutes; when it's ready it will be gleamingly risen at the centre, and coming away from the pan at the sides.

Let the gingerbread cool before cutting into slices or squares.

Pumpkin Pudding:

2 boxes vanilla instant pudding (3 1/8 oz size)
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin pie filling
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla

Prepare vanilla pudding according to package instructions.

Combine pudding with the pumpkin pie filling. Fold in brown sugar and spices. Cover and chill.

Whipped Cream Filling and Topping:

4 cups chilled heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla

Beat cream with sugar and vanilla using mixer until it holds soft peaks.


Assemble trifle:

Put half of gingerbread cubes in 2 quart trifle bowl. Top with half of pumpkin pudding, then half of the whipped cream. Repeat layering once more with all of remaining gingerbread, pudding, and cream. Chill at least 2 hours before serving. Best if assembled the same day.


Note:

Gingerbread (uncut) can be made up to week ahead. Wrap in parchment paper followed by a layer of plastic wrap and stored in an airtight container in a cool place. Gingerbread will keep for a total of two weeks.

Trifle, can be made a day ahead but will look best if prepped the day you serve it.

Garnish:

With Crumbled Gingersnap cookies, Crystallized ginger or candied pecans

Trifle can be made in a large trifle dish, Individual Trifle Bowls or deep glasses.

Enjoy!