A perfect glutenfree Halloween treat: pumpkin and walnut cupcakes

This is the story of a lonely pumpkin that blossomed into sassy pumpkin cupcakes. There once was a lonely pumpkin, lying in my fridge. It had been there a while, waiting to be turned into pumpkin soup or Jamie Olivers pumpkin risotto... 

Don't worry, I won't write this whole story in fairytale style. ;-)
My husband had nearly thrown a perfectly good pumpkin away, because it was not big enough to make soup or my beloved risotto with. I hate to waste food, so I decided to use it to make pumpkin cupcakes. That left over pumpkin was a great reason to finally try a new recipe that had been lingering in my mind for a while. And since fall is here and that means Halloween is getting nearer, I decided to turn them into a wonderful Halloween treat. 

The pumpkins on top are made with a Wilton mold that normally makes chocolate lollipops.

This recipe makes 12 cupcakes and 3 mini-bund cakes.Thank you Lisl, for giving me those. Whenever I make to much batter, those moulds come in handy. :-)

Ingredients:

• 300 grams (10.5 oz) of pumpkin. Peeled, seeds removed and chopped to chuncks so you can blitz them with the walnuts.
• 150 grams (5.5 oz) of walnuts
• 200 grams (7 oz) of glutenfree riceflour
• 150 grams (5.5 oz) of cane sugar (granulated sugar is an option too)
• 3 tablespoons of honey
• 5 eggs
• 8 grams (0.28 oz) of vanilla sugar
• 10 grams (0.35 oz) of fiber husk
• 10 grams (0.35 oz) of xanthan gum
• 12 grams (0.42 oz) of glutenfree baking powder (I used cream of tartar)
• For decoration: powdered sugar and orange melting candy for the pumpkins.

Instructions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade (350 degrees fahrenheit).
2. Blitz the walnuts and the pumpkin to a fine pulp/paste in a blender. 
3. Add the riceflour, honey, fiberhusk, xanthan gum and cream of tartar and mix with a fork. 
4. Beat the eggs, vanilla sugar and cane sugar to a frothy substance and add to the pumkin, walnut, flour mixture.
5. Line the cupcake tins with paper cups and grease the bund cake moulds. Spoon the mixture in and place the capcake tins and the bund cakes in the oven. 
6. Bake it all in 45 minutes till your cupcakes and bundcakes smell delicious and look golden brown.
7. Leave them to cool on a wire rack. 
8. While the cupcakes are in the oven, make the candy pumpkins. I used a Wilton plastic mold that makes chocolate lollipops. Melt the candy in a bowl in the microwave or as I did, in a bowl above a pan with softly boiling water. Pour the melted candy in the molds, place in the freezer until the candy has become firm and take out of the mold.
9. To decorate the cupcakes: dust them with powdered sugar. Make some glazing/frosting with powdered sugar and a tiny bit of water and use it to stick the candy pumpkins onto the cupcakes. To decorate the bund cakes, just dust them with powdered sugar. 

Enjoy!