Happy Halloween and Ghastly Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Cupcakes

I probably said this last Halloween but I'll say it again, I LOVE Halloween.  Unfortunately this year I haven't done such a good job of showing it.  You see, I thought and thought about an idea for a costume and when my friend Julia finally came up with one that was perfect for me (Cruella Deville) I turned all lazy and perhaps a bit too frugal.

So here I am on Halloween with no awesome costume to match previous years (Wednesday Addams, Minnie Mouse, 60's flight attendant, Betty Boop) but a lot of festive food* to make up for it.  Hopefully, Halloween will forgive me.

*I will be posting another Halloween themed recipe tomorrow!

Spiced Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Cupcakes with Light Cream Cheese Icing
I found these cute little ghost shaped baking tins at Target, but obviously regular baking cups or even a bread or brownie pan will work just fine, for the latter two you will likely need to adjust the cooking time though.
Loosely adapted from Cooking Light and Make Me Hungry

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon cloves
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup non-fat plain yogurt
2 tablespoons melted butter
scant 1/4 cup canola oil
1 15oz can canned pumpkin

For the chocolate swirl:
1 cup batter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1/4 cup skim milk

For the icing:
These measurements are inexact, basically you just want to achieve an spreadable consistency.  Not too liquid-y and not too thick, unless you like it that way.

1- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon skim milk
1 tablespoon softened butter
3 tablespoons whipped cream cheese

Chocolate for decorating:
~2oz dark chocolate
splash milk or cream

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Sift all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside.  In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, yogurt, vanilla, pumpkin, melted butter and oil and stir until well combined.  Pour the wet mixture into the dry and mix until everything has been incorporated.

Take 1 cup of the batter an transfer it into a medium bowl, add the cocoa powder, agave, and milk and mix well.

Spoon enough of the pumpkin batter into a prepared muffin tin (or ghost) to just cover the bottom, then add a spoonful of the chocolate batter and another spoonful of the pumpkin batter (until the muffin cup is 1/2- 3/4 full, depending on how big you want them to be) and swirl together with a knife.  This doesn't have to be precise, experiment with different ways and see what works best for you.

Bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Icing and Decorating
For the frosting, mix all ingredients together in a bowl until your desired flavor and texture are achieved. Wait at least 30 minutes for the cupcakes to cool before frosting them.

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler with a splash of milk or cream and then transfer to a pastry (or heavy duty ziploc) bag.  If using a ziploc, cut a tiny hole in the corner of the bag and then squeeze out the chocolate for decorating.