The other night I wanted to do a pumpkin cake that was a little like a cheesecake but was still more like a cake. I came up with this option which has a cake texture but keeps the cream cheese and pumpkin flavors blended together. Like a cheesecake, they come out of the oven nice and puffy, then sink in the middle when they cool. This is an excellent place to put a tablespoon of whipped cream or even a scoop of low carb ice cream. One of the extra ingredients in this is Sugar-free butterscotch pudding. I use one tablespoon of the dry mix, which keeps the net carb count on these low at a total of 2.5 net carbs per cupcake. Making them cupcakes controls the serving size and they cook quicker.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cupcakes

4 oz Cream Cheese, softened
1/3 cup Sugar Substitute
1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree
1 large Egg
2 tablespoons Sugar-free Instant Caramel Pudding Mix
2 tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 teaspoon Cinnamon, ground
1/4 cup Vanilla Whey Protein Powder
2 tablespoons Low Carb Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

Preheat Oven to 365 degrees (F.) Spray a 6 cup muffin pan with baking spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, add cream cheese and sugar substitute. Beat with a mixer until the sugar is creamed into the cream cheese. Add pumpkin, egg, pudding mix, whipping cream, vanilla, and seasonings and mix together until thoroughly blended.

In a small bowl, stir together the lc flour, baking powder, and vanilla whey powder. Add to the creamed cheese mixture about 1/3 at a time, mixing with the mixer until all the flour is incorporated.

Spoon into the muffin pan, filling to about 2/3rds full. Bake for 25 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the middle should come out clean. Allow to cool for about 15 minutes before serving with whipped cream on top. The cake will collapse, but it makes a nice well for the whipped cream.

Makes 6 cupcakes.

Nutrition Information per cupcake:
Calories: 136 Fat: 5.1 g Net Carbs: 2.5 g Protein: 7.6 g

Tip: Don’t like pumpkin?  Try this with baked and mashed butternut squash or sugar-free applesauce.  Or you can omit them altogether and make the recipe without the added puree,  You may need to add a little water to the mix.  Unsweetened applesauce will raise the net carbs to 4.5 g.  You could use sweet potato puree, but it will add about 3 net carbs to the count, bringing it to 5.5 nc.