Question: What do you get when you bake a pecan pie cupcake INSIDE a pumpkin cupcake, top it with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream frosting and decorate it with a homemade sugared pecan? Answer: All the flavors of Thanksgiving in a single cupcake! I developed this cupcake to replicate the flavors of the pumpkin-pecan cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. As my photo can't convey taste here's some feedback on this cupcake from one of my clients: "Honestly, the aroma of the spice and pecan and the gentle flavor of the frosting combined, bring tears to my eyes and pounds to my middle!!"

I moved to the US a few years ago and discovered the art of cupcake baking as a creative outlet to ease the occasional monotony of being a housewife. My husband enables my baking habit and in return gets to work in an office full of happy co-workers whenever he brings the fruits of my labor in to the office. This is the first cupcake competition I have entered so fingers crossed!