They say, sometimes less is more.

With baking, not so much.

However, I wanted to experiment with small-batch baking. It’s tempting if you’re trying new flavors, cooking for fewer people, or limiting your treats.

I couldn’t help but wonder, could pumpkin cupcakes be made in a small batch? Can we make delicious dairy-free cream cheese frosting? Will it all be worth it?

Method

Recipe Source:

Good Housekeeping’s book Dishes for Two

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Dairy-Free Modifications:

Instead of cream cheese, I used Violife brand cream cheese alternative Just Like Cream Cheese Original.
Instead of butter, I used Imperial brand margarine.

I would not recommend a homemade recipe for this one, because it may not result in the same texture. However, if you have a great recipe that you love, please share it!

Procedures:

I won’t rewrite it all here, especially because I was a bad blogger and didn’t take many photos.

The basic steps are to:

Whisk together the dry ingredients.
Combine the pumpkin, sweetener, and spices. Note: I used honey instead of molasses.
In a separate bowl, beat the butter substitute and sugar, then the egg.
Then, alternatively add the dry ingredients and pumpkin mixture.
Divide and bake.
Mix together frosting ingredients in the order listed.

Note: I observed that I needed to add almost double the amount of confectioner’s sugar recommended. More on that in the discussion.

7. Frost and enjoy!

Results

Delicious, fluffy, with a subtly tangy and sweet cream cheese frosting.

These were gobbled up by dairy-eating foodies, so I take that as the highest compliment!

I'm working on my piping skills!
One was frosted extra-lightly by special request.

Conclusions

This recipe certainly yielded delicious results. Each cupcake was savored, and none were wasted.

Could we make dairy-free cream cheese frosting? Yes, but with some modifications from the original recipe. I started out using the exact amounts listed in the recipe. However, to achieve the texture that appears in the cookbook’s pictures, and to make the frosting pipeable, I needed to add almost double the amount of sugar. It’s possible that this may be related to the chemical composition of dairy-free substitutes often containing higher water content than their dairy counterparts. I aim to continue to learn more about this.

Was it worth it? This recipe did take more steps than my usual quickbread muffins, which I previously thought were basically the same. However, this experiment taught me that the steps and textures are actually distinct. I was encouraged by these results and would definitely try again, but you don’t have to take my word for it!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting: A Dairy-Free Mini Report