These pumpkin cupcakes are filled with pumpkin puree and spices, then baked and topped with a generous amount of cream cheese frosting. The ultimate fall treat that’s perfect for parties and even for Thanksgiving day.
When pumpkin season comes around, I often make a variety of seasonal dessert recipes including pumpkin spice cake, pumpkin dump cake, pumpkin pie cheesecake and these light and fluffy pumpkin cupcakes.
It’s time for everything pumpkin, and these pumpkin cupcakes definitely do not disappoint. They have the perfect texture, plenty of pumpkin flavor, and are finished off with melt-in-your-mouth cream cheese frosting. How can you go wrong with that?
Table of Contents
Pumpkin Cupcakes Ingredients
To make the cupcakes, you will need eggs, granulated sugar, pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract and salt. For the frosting, you will need butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract. You can also decorate the tops of your cupcakes with candy pumpkins.
How Do You Make Pumpkin Cupcakes?
Preheat the oven, and line a muffin tin with paper liners or spray it with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, granulated sugar, pumpkin puree and oil. Next, add flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract and salt. Stir well, then pour the batter into the muffin tin. Bake until the cupcakes are lightly browned, then let them cool completely.
To make the frosting, use an electric mixer to beat the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar, then add the vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Spread or pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. Add a candy pumpkin for decoration, then serve and enjoy.
Tips For The Perfect Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Watching your calories? You can substitute unsweetened applesauce for half of the oil.
- If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice in the house, you can use cinnamon with a pinch of ground ginger, ground cloves, ground allspice and ground nutmeg mixed in.
- You can either use paper cupcake liners, or simply spray the muffin tin with cooking spray before pouring in the batter.
- Make sure you use pure canned pumpkin and not a can of pumpkin pie filling for this recipe. They are not the same thing.
- I decorated my cupcakes with candy pumpkins which I purchased at my local craft store. You can use any fall candy on top, or even a sprinkle of candied pecans, sprinkles or pumpkin pie spice.
- You can make your cream cheese frosting as thick or as thin as you’d like. Simply add more powdered sugar to make the frosting thicker, or add milk, a teaspoon at a time, to thin out the frosting. Thicker frosting is easier to pipe onto cupcakes, but you want to make sure it’s not too thick so that it doesn’t squeeze out of the piping tip properly.
Quick Tip
I use a piping bag fitted with a medium star tip to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. If you don’t have a piping bag, you can use a spatula to spread the frosting onto the cupcakes.
Cupcake Variations
- Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cakes: Mix together 8 ounces of softened cream cheese with 1/4 cup sugar, 1 egg and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Place a dollop of the cream cheese mixture into each muffin cup of batter and swirl with a toothpick. Proceed with the rest of the recipe as directed.
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes: Add 1 cup of chocolate chips to the batter, proceed with the rest of the recipe as directed.
- Pumpkin Nut Cakes: Add 3/4 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans to the batter, proceed with the rest of the recipe as directed.
- Banana Pumpkin Cupcakes: Add 1 mashed banana to the batter, then proceed with the rest of the recipe.
- Pumpkin Nutella Cupcakes: Swirl 1 teaspoon of Nutella into each muffin cup of pumpkin batter, then proceed as directed.
Recipe FAQs
I recommend freezing these cupcakes before you add the frosting. Thaw the cupcakes at room temperature, then add the frosting and serve. Unfrosted cupcakes can be frozen in a resealable bag for up to 2 months.
This cream cheese frosting is made with cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and a little vanilla extract. Beat together the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy, then gradually add the powdered sugar. Finally, add the vanilla extract then the frosting is ready to use.
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These cupcakes are the absolute best way to celebrate the fall season. They look impressive, yet they’re so easy to make!
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Pumpkin Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cake
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 3/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- cooking spray
For the frosting
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 12 candy pumpkins optional garnish
Instructions
For the cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray, or you can use paper liners.
- Place the eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree and oil in a bowl. Whisk until smooth.
- Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract and salt to the bowl. Stir until just combined.
- Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
- Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the frosting
- Place the butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a mixer and mix until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time and mix on low speed until combined. Add the vanilla extract and mix for 30 seconds.
- If the frosting is too thick, add 1 teaspoon of milk at a time until desired consistency is reached.
- Place the frosting in a piping bag fitted with a decorative tip. Pipe the frosting on the cupcakes, then top each cupcake with a candy pumpkin. Serve.
Notes
- If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice in the house, you can use cinnamon with a pinch of ground ginger, cloves and nutmeg mixed in.
- You can either use paper cupcake liners, or simply spray the muffin tin with cooking spray before pouring in the batter.
These pumpkin cupcakes are so cute! Made some for my son to take to his class.
‘Tis the season for all things pumpkin! These look perfect and that cream cheese frosting sounds divine. 🙂
These were so cute and so delicious. The kids really haven’t worked out pumpkin is a vegetable yet so a fantastic way to get a little extra veg in their diets.
Your Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting are an absolute delight! The infusion of pumpkin puree and spices gives these cupcakes a warm, comforting flavor that’s perfect for fall.
This was a such a delicious and easy recipe! So good!
Made these tonight for my boyfriend. He loves pumpkin but I’m not a fan, but had to make something pumpkin for Thanksgiving. He loved them! I did cut back a cup and a half of powdered sugar. 3 cups made it sweet enough.
I made the cupcakes and they were amazing! I’m curious, if I wanted to make this recipe into a bundt cake, would I follow the same steps? And adjust oven temperature and baking time?
Do these have to be refrigerated after complete?
You can leave them out for about 8 hours, after that I would refrigerate!
I’ve made these now a few times. First I followed the recipe exactly and they were perfect. Then I tried it with the suggestion of 1/2 applesauce instead of all the oil and it was just as yummy!
I knew had to make these as soon as I saw your recipe – delicious!
My wife made these not that long ago and they are so delicious!
These cupcakes are way too good to only have in the fall! I’m stocking up on pumpkin puree when it goes on sale so I can have these all year long.
These look so delicious and tasty! We love pumpkin around this house! I can’t wait to make these!
Oh boy, these pumpkin cupcakes are terrific! I can’t wait for fall!
These pumpkin cupcakes are so adorable!! I bet they taste amazing!
Such a gorgeous and delicious cupcake idea!! Can’t wait for all pumpkin desserts!
These cupcakes look so cute, and they taste awesome!
These pumpkin cupcakes are dangerously good!
Oh these look amazing I cannot wait for fall!