Creme-filled Pumpkin Spice Latte Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups cake flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup canola oil
- ¼ cup butter, melted
- 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 Tbsp espresso powder
Stabilized whipped cream
- 1 tsp unflavored powdered gelatin
- 2 Tbsp water
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup powdered sugar, sifted
- ½ vanilla bean pod, seeds scraped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and spray the inside of the liners with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, sugar, eggs, milk, canola oil, melted butter and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: cake flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cardamom and salt.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in three parts. Fold dry ingredients into the wet until just and mix until the flour is just barely moistened. Continue folding the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until nearly all of the flour is absorbed.
- Divide the batter into two separate bowls. Fold the cocoa powder and espresso powder into one of the bowls of batter.
- Scoop one heaping tablespoon of each batter into each muffin liner.
Gently swirl the muffin batters together, being careful to not over mix. Use a toothpick to stir the batters into each other two or three times to create distinct marbling. - Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool muffins completely on a cooling rack.
- Meanwhile make the stabilised whipped cream. Dissolve the gelatin in the water in a small microwave safe bowl.
- Place remaining whipped cream ingredients into a large chilled bowl and whisk to combine.
- Microwave the gelatin mixture for 10 seconds. While the gelatin cools slightly, begin to whip the cream mixture, either with a stand or hand mixer. Once the cream begins to thicken, slowly stream the gelatin in while continuing the whipping process. Continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Transfer to a large piping bag and refrigerate until ready to assemble the muffins.
- Optional: Cut a cavity in the center of each muffin. A large piping tip works well for this, or use an apple corer.
- Fill each muffin with whipped cream, making a small peak on top. Dust with cinnamon or espresso powder.
Recipe Notes
There are three flavor elements in a pumpkin spice latte, espresso, spiced pumpkin, and milk foam or whipped cream. These creme-filled pumpkin spice latte muffins distinctly highlight each of those flavors in a sweet-but-not-too-sweet morsel so you can have your PSL and eat it too.
The muffin batter for this recipe is split in half to allow for two flavors - pumpkin spice muffin and mocha espresso. The two muffin batters are gently swirled together for a marbled effect. The recipe above calls for the optional step of spraying the muffin liners with cooking spray. This will allow the liners to easily peel off the muffins after baking, so the marbling can be easily seen.
I was initially planning on using ermine frosting (also known as “boiled milk” frosting) for the filling since it somewhat resembles whipped cream, but I decided to toss it because in spite of the odd preparation, it’s still a buttercream frosting and the taste was way to buttery to resemble actual cream. Instead, these muffins are filled with a simple vanilla bean whipped cream stabilized with gelatin. The added gelatin ensures that the whipped cream peaks will keep their shape for a day or two in the fridge.
These muffins should not be reheated and instead should be served at just under room temperature with a warm beverage.
