Pumpkin Cupcakes sans marzipan

Okay, so we cheated.

And Nicole said it's okay, and since she is the boss, I defer to her on this one. So Martha Stewart, in all of her glory and baking goodness, expected us to make marzipan pumpkin candies, which would be placed on top of the pumpkin cupcakes.

Nicole and I looked at the recipe and she said, simply: "No."

So we cheated. We didn't make the marzipan pumpkin candies.

We used, ahem, store-bought candies.

Gasp!

But allow me to tell you, readers, that the pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting are, in fact, delicious. And since we're becoming regular cupcake-makers, we had many ingredients on hand. All we had to buy was butter, cream cheese, pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling, which is what we had in the pantry), and, you know, the cheating candies.

The process of making the cupcakes gets smoother every time. Nicole, however, is not keen on using the mixer anymore. Apparently, and this has gone unnoticed by me, she mixes every time. And it's tiring. And not as fun as sifting? I can only imagine. So next time, it's all me on the mixer.

And don't tell Nicole, but I have a little plan to buy a standing mixer in the near future. Not because I don't want to be Ms. Mix-a-lot, but because the one I've been eying is pink and adorable. And perfect for us.

We've reached the end of our night, we shared one cupcake (hey, we ran today -- why sabotage ourselves within twelve hours?), Nicole is cleaning up, and I'm writing this. It's been a good day.