Vanilla Spice Cupcakes w/ Pumpkin Butter

Vanilla Spice Cake
3/4 c. sour cream
4 eggs
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. water
1 spice cake mix
1 small box vanilla instant pudding

Preheat oven to 350. Fill mini muffin 3/4 full. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Pumpkin Butter (from Allrecipes.com)
1 (29 oz) can pumpkin puree
3/4 c. apple juice
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until thickened. Stirring occasionally.

Fill a cake decorator, with a filling tip attached, with the pumpkin butter. Fill cupcakes with pumpkin butter. Dust with confectioner's sugar to garnish.

I would almost call these muffins because I don't feel they are as sweet as cupcakes since they don't have the icing. Also, I love using the mini size instead of the normal size because I feel like you can get a better cake to pumpkin butter ratio. I got the idea from William's Sonoma. They have a Vanilla Spice Cake and Vanilla Spice Butter, but it is kind of expensive. So this is my version. Hope you enjoy!

Kelli P.
Walnut Creek, CA