Pumpkin cupcakes

Pumpkin, like carrots, is high in beta-carotene. For this recipe, scoop out and discard seeds and any fibrous part. Remove the outer skin too. Slice it into smaller pieces and steam them. Once it cools down, you can puree it.

Ingredients for this cupcake are :

Pumpkin puree - 3/4 cup
Plain flour - 1 and 1/2 cup
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp
Dry ginger powder - 1/2 tsp
Cloves - 4
Butter - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Organic eggs - 2
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Milk - 1/4 cup

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Powder sugar and cloves together. Whisk sugar, spices and butter in a large bowl. Add essence. Break eggs one by one and whisk until well combined. Beat in flour mixture and pumpkin puree alternatively until evenly moistened. Stir in milk to loosen the batter.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Coat 10 cupcake tins with butter and a little flour. Bake until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean, 20 minutes. Transfer cakes from the tin onto a wire rack. Leave to cool for 5 minutes.

Of the few cakes I have baked till now, this one has come out the best. The pumpkin and spices combination gives it a surprisingly beautiful flavour and texture. I loved it with ice-cream.