These super moist pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting are soft, delicious, and stay moist for 3 days. These are packed with pumpkin flavor and fall spices.
These cupcakes are a must-try for fall! One of our favorite things about this recipe is that it comes together in under an hour from start to finish.
If you like cupcake recipes as much as we do, try our chocolate cupcakes, carrot cake cupcakes, and our red velvet cupcakes (coming soon).
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Why this recipe works
- These cupcakes are unbelievably moist and fluffy.
- Topped with dreamy cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
- Perfect to make when you need a quick dessert.
- Made with simple ingredients.
- Stays moist for 3 days!
Ingredients
Pumpkin puree- you can use canned pumpkin puree or homemade pumpkin puree for this recipe.
Flour– we used all-purpose flour for this recipe, self-rising flour, and cake flour will work great as well.
Baking powder and baking soda – to allow the cake to rise.
Brown sugar- we like using brown sugar for this recipe, the brown sugar adds extra flavor and tastes amazing with fall spices.
Granulated sugar– we like to use granulated sugar, also the most common sugar used in baking. Caster sugar will work great as well.
Vegetable oil – we used vegetable oil for this recipe. canola oil will work great for this recipe.
Eggs– To give the cake a good structure. Make sure you’re using room-temperature eggs.
Vanilla extract– Vanilla extract Is an essential ingredient for chocolate cake.
Ground ginger- use ground ginger for this recipe.
Cinnamon- use ground cinnamon for this recipe, the cinnamon adds so much flavor so don’t skip it.
Nutmeg- use dried ground nutmeg or freshly grated nutmeg.
Salt– We used kosher salt for this recipe. Salt doesn’t give the cake a salty taste, it helps to enhance the chocolate flavor.
For the cream cheese frosting:
Butter- make sure you are using room temperate butter.
Cream cheese- make sure that you are using whole-fat cream cheese that is at room temperature.
Powder sugar- is known as confessional sugar. For a smoother buttercream, sift it before adding it to the butter.
Pinch of salt- to balance the sweetness.
Instructions
Preheat an oven to 180c (350f) and prep a cupcake pan with liners.
Into a big mixing bowl, add the oil, eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree. mix with a whisk until combined.
Into a medium-sized mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and kosher salt and mix until combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix until just combined.
Pour the batter ¾ into the cupcake tins and bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Make the cream cheese frosting:
Into a large bowl add room temperature butter and mix with a hand mixer or a stand mixer until the butter is light and fluffy.
Add the cream cheese and mix until smooth.
Add ½ of the powder sugar at a time (you don’t want to be in a powder sugar cloud).
Add a pinch of salt, cinnamon, and vanilla extract and mix well until smooth.
Transfer the cream cheese frosting into a piping bag with a round tip and frost the cupcakes. We like to top the cupcakes with ground cinnamon or crushed nuts like walnuts or pecans (toasted).
Expert tips
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and butter. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have a moist cake and not a dense and dry cake.
- Make sure that your butter is at room temperature. An hour or two before making these cupcakes, take the butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. The butter should be soft to the touch. If your butter is too cold, it will be harder to mix and there will be lumps of butter in the dough.
- Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to frost these cupcakes as they are pulled out of the oven, but let the cupcakes cool for at least 1 hour so they will be more firm and won’t crumble up, and prevent the frosting from melting.
- Use room temperature butter and cream cheese.
- Use full-fat cream cheese, this step makes sure that your frosting is stable.
Faq's
These cupcakes will last for up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the fridge.
Yes! These cupcakes bake great as a sheet cake or a cupcake! Make sure you change the baking time.
We use all-purpose flour for this cake, self-rising flour, and cake flour will work great as well.
Storing
The cream cheese frosting needs to be refrigerated because it contains cream cheese and butter. If your cupcakes aren't frosted, it's okay to store the cupcakes at room temperature.
Make sure that you store the cupcakes in an airtight container so they won't dry out.
Freezing
Freeze these cupcakes after they cooled completely in an airtight freezer-friendly container for up to 3 months.
our tip is not to freeze it decorated or covered with frosting, because it can ruin the decorating on the cake, we suggest freezing the cupcake and decorating it when you defrost it.
If you’re not looking to impress anyone with your decorating skills, it’s absolutely okay to freeze the cupcake with the frosting on.
Variations
Nuts- These taste great with chopped toasted walnuts or pecans. You can add any of your favorite add-ins.
Frosting- If you don’t like cream cheese frosting, you can use vanilla buttercream or cinnamon buttercream.
Tools
Mixing bowls- best glass mixing bowls.
Whisk set- our favorite copper whisk set.
Cupcakes tins- our favorite Wilton cupcake tins.
Open star piping tip- our favorite Wilton piping tip for cupcake decoration.
More fall recipes
Moist honey cake- This honey cake is moist, rich in flavor, and full of spices that will make your house smell like autumn. This honey cake is definitely a family favorite.
Apple upside-down cake- This apple upside-down cake recipe is a must-have for fall. This apple upside-down cake features an incredibly moist cake that is loaded with cinnamon and nutmeg, topped with a caramelized apple topping.
Easy apple cake- This cake is fluffy, light, airy, moist, soft, and delicious. This apple cake contains only a few simple ingredients to make and takes under 20 minutes to prep.
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📖 Recipe
Pumpkin Cupcakes With Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup Flour
- ½ cup Sugar
- ½ cup Brown sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ½ cup Vegetable oil
- 1 cup Pumpkin puree
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon Ginger
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
Cinnamon cream cheese frosting:
- 115 g Butter
- 230 g Cream cheese
- 3 ½ cups Powder sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
Instructions
How to make pumpkin cupcakes:
- Preheat an oven to 180c (350f) and prep a cupcake pan with liners.
- Into a big mixing bowl, add the oil, eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree. mix with a whisk until combined.
- Into a medium-sized mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and kosher salt and mix until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix until just combined.
- Pour the batter ¾ into the cupcake tins and bake in a 180c (350f) preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
For the cinnamon cream cheese frosting:
- Make the cream cheese frosting: into a large bowl add room temperature butter and mix with a hand mixer or a stand mixer until the butter is light and fluffy.
- Add the cream cheese and mix until smooth.
- Add ½ of the powder sugar at a time (you don’t want to be in a powder sugar cloud)
- Add a pinch of salt, cinnamon, and vanilla extract and mix well until smooth.
- Transfer the cream cheese frosting into a piping bag with a round tip and frost the cupcakes. We like to top the cupcakes with ground cinnamon or crushed nuts like walnuts or pecans (toasted).
Notes
- Use room temperature ingredients. It is important that you use room-temperature ingredients like eggs and butter. This step ensures that your mixture mixes into a homogenous mixture and bakes perfectly. you don’t want to place cold batter into the oven.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring your flour, avoid scooping it with a measuring cup. Instead, stir the flour with a spoon to create as many air pockets as possible, and spoon it into your measuring cup. Finally, level it with a back of a knife.
- Don’t overmix the batter, you don’t want to develop the gluten in the flour. This step ensures you have a moist cake and not a dense and dry cake.
- Make sure that your butter is at room temperature. An hour or two before making these cupcakes, take the butter out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. The butter should be soft to the touch. If your butter is too cold, it will be harder to mix and there will be lumps of butter in the dough.
- Be patient! I know it’s extremely tempting to frost these cupcakes as they are pulled out of the oven, but let the cupcakes cool for at least 1 hour so they will be more firm and won’t crumble up, and prevent the frosting from melting.
- Use room temperature butter and cream cheese.
- Use full-fat cream cheese, this step makes sure that your frosting is stable.
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