Fall Holiday Trio

Pumpkin Cupcake

Fall has to be my absolute most favorite season of the year. Growing up on the East Coast meant that fall was beautiful colors on the trees, raking leaves in the front yard, and a welcome drop in temperature from the hot, humid, and often rainy summer weather. Fall was pulling my favorite coats and scarves out of the attic, stocking up on candy for Halloween, and finding the perfect pumpkin for carving. Fall meant new school supplies, dreams of Thanksgiving pies, and that the winter holiday season was just around the corner.

Even though I live in San Diego now and the season change isn’t as significant as it was in Maryland, I still want to do the best that I can to pull in memories (and flavors!) that I associate with this time of year. At the suggestion of my mom, I decided to put together a Fall Holiday Trio of cupcakes that I felt emulated this upcoming season. With that being said, our Fall Holiday Trio consists of the following:

• Pumpkin Cupcake
• Gingerbread Cupcake
• Apple Pie Cupcake

Since filled cupcakes are our specialty, I thought about each flavor and what I would want to taste inside. I found that of the three in the holiday trio, only one seemed to call for a filling: the Apple Pie Cupcake. The other two, however, seemed like they were perfect as they were and that filling them would only be overdoing it. That’s why our Pumpkin Cupcake and Gingerbread Cupcake are kept in their natural state – no fillings.

The Apple Pie Cupcake is a spice cupcake with an apple pie filling and a luscious vanilla frosting. As for the other two, the Pumpkin Cupcake called for an obvious choice of cream cheese frosting but the Gingerbread Cupcake is as yet unfrosted. I wouldn’t want to rush into icing this cupcake merely to put a topper on it. Instead, some more thought is going in this one before unveiling. Perhaps a glaze? Suggestions welcome!