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.
Pumpkin Cupcakes Ingredients
To make these pumpkin 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. These cupcakes are perfect for fall fun or a Thanksgiving feast. You should also try some of my favorite desserts that feature the flavors of fall like pear custard pie, caramel apple dip, Dutch apple pie and apple cobbler.
How Do You Make Pumpkin Cupcakes?
When you make this pumpkin cupcake recipe, start by preheating 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 the dry ingredients, the 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 room temperature 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. To make your frosting you want softened cream cheese. You can soften cream cheese by leaving it on a counter for 30 minutes to an hour or by microwaving it out of the package and in a bowl for a few seconds. I decorated my frosted cupcakes with candy pumpkins which I purchased at my local craft store. You can use any fall candy on top, or even candied pecans, candied walnuts, 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.
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. Cinnamon: Mix in a teaspoon and a half of ground cinnamon into your frosting. Brown sugar: Substitute 1/2 cup of granulated sugar with 1/2 cup of brown sugar for more intense flavored cake.
These cupcakes are the absolute best way to celebrate the fall season. They look impressive, yet they’re so easy to make!
Pumpkin Cupcakes Video
