Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Hello my fellows food lovers,

Every year when the leaves begin to turn, I get excited about three things: Wearing my favorite boots, the upcoming arrival of Thanksgiving, and the fact that there is pumpkin everywhere!

I first fell in love with pumpkin when I was a kid. My mom and I used to make Pumpkin Pies every year. Since the, I have expanded to so many different recipe. Pumpkin is truly a versatile ingredient and I so enjoy using it in new recipes. Here is the promised new recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate swirl cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting. Hope you all enjoy it!

I begin with making the two different cake mixes:
The Chocolate Cake recipe is actually from Hershey's. Click here for the recipe. I have used this cake recipe several times and it never disappoints.
The Pumpkin Cake recipe is actually for a Pumpkin layer cake. Click here for that recipe. This was the first time I have used this recipe for Pumpkin Cake, but I will for sure be using it again.

Sidenote: Both of these cake recipes themselves are dairy free!

1. Prepare both cake recipes in separate bowls.
2. Ready cupcake tins with liners. I prefer Culinary Parchment Paper Cups by PaperChef. You can find them at your local supermarket. They are a little more expensive, but they never stick.
3. Ladle the Pumpkin batter into the bottom of each cup (about 1/3 filled).
4. Ladle the Chocolate batter over the Pumpkin layer (about 1/8 inch).
5. Ladle more Pumpkin batter until it reaches about 1/2 inch from the top.
6. Take a knife and swirl the two batters together in each individual cupcake by making a figure 8 movement. To really mix it in, you can do the figure 8 motion both horizontally and vertically.
9. Place the cupcake tins in the oven at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

After you have removed the cupcakes from the oven allow them time to cool before adding any frosting.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
1 8oz block of cream cheese (room temp.)
1 1/2 sticks of butter (room temp.)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

1. With a mixer, mix together cream cheese and butter
2. Pour in brown sugar and mix
3. Mix in vanilla
4. Use a knife or spatula to frost the cupcakes.
5. Enjoy!

I chilled these overnight before serving. It helps the icing set, but they can be served immediately as well. I made so many of them I still had some a week later and they still tasted amazing.