Spiced Cupcakes w/Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl

These cupcakes are on the blog because they were requested by Theresa. Often, I bake so many cupcakes I am not always interested in eating them. Sometimes, I am more interested in developing flavors or putting a surprise inside. Other times I'm trying to create a design or even work on the taste of a frosting. By the time I'm done, I'm so sick of cupcakes that I give them to the neighbors or send them to work with hubby or to school with mini me. Of course, that was not the case with these cupcakes.

I have to admit, I really like these cupcakes and others did too which is why even though I didn't make it from scratch, it's going on the blog. I'm not exactly sure what makes these different than the others. Maybe it's because I love pumpkin or maybe because I love cheesecake. Whatever it is these cupcakes were so delicious I think I've had one everyday this week.

What's even better is that this recipe is super easy. Thank goodness I saw the pumpkin cream cheese in the Supermarket. That's where this crazy adventure started. One hungry trip to the supermarket. This is why you should go to the supermarket hungry. I used a boxed cake mix and the store bought pumpkin cream cheese and added the necessary ingredients to create a cheesecake. Now, I gotta get back to the store and buy some more. If it's not in your store just replace the pumpkin cream cheese with regular cream cheese. Or ... make a regular yellow cupcake and use strawberry cream cheese.

The possibilities are endless.

Spiced Cupcakes w/Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl
Makes 24 Cupcakes

Ingredients:
Spiced Cake Mix
8 ounces of pumpkin (or regular) cream cheese
1/2 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice (not necessary if you are making regular cheesecake)
1 egg

Tools: cupcake tin, 24 cupcake liners & mixer

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tin with liners

Make boxed cake mix according to directions and set aside.

Place cream cheese and sugar in a separate bowl with vanilla and pumpkin pie spice.

Mix cream cheese and other ingredients for 2 minutes on medium speed.

Add egg and mix until smooth.

Fill cupcake liners half way with cake mixture.

Add one tablespoon of cream cheese mixture to the cake mix.

Use a knife to gently swirl the cream mixture into the cake mix. Try drawing a figure 8 in the mixture.

Bake cupcakes for 25 to 30 minutes until the cheesecake has set.

Remove cupcakes from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

Devour!!