Pumpkin cupcakes deserve their own spotlight, right? I received some questions about turning my pumpkin cake into cupcakes, so I figure a completely separate post for pumpkin cupcakes would be helpful. Compared to cake, cupcakes cook faster and are easier to decorate, transport, and serve. LOVE THAT!
These are the BEST Pumpkin Cupcakes
And I have a list to prove it!
Easy to prepare Simple, basic ingredients Moist and soft Heightened pumpkin spice flavor (just like pumpkin pie!) Sweetened with brown sugar Topped with tangy cream cheese frosting Fun to decorate! 🙂
Let’s Compare
Let’s compare these pumpkin cupcakes to my beloved pumpkin muffins recipe. There’s definitely a few differences!
Ease: Both pumpkin cupcake recipes are super low maintenance. You don’t need a mixer to make either batter (though you could certainly use one!) and both batters come together in minutes. Actual Recipes: The recipes themselves are pretty similar. Here I cut out the milk and reduced the flour to make up for less liquid. You only need 1 cup of flour, so you are basically guaranteed mega moist cupcakes. There’s also slightly less pumpkin because it can weigh down your baked good (totally fine in a hearty, slightly denser muffin though). Flavor: The flavors are pretty identical, including spices. Texture: But here’s the real difference—these pumpkin cupcakes are not quite as dense. They’re incredibly moist and soft, but have more of a cake and cupcake texture and less of a muffin texture.
My tip: As with most of my cupcake recipes, fill the liners only about 2/3 full. This is about 3 full Tablespoons of batter per cupcake. (See 9 more tips for baking the BEST cupcakes!)
Ingredients in Pumpkin Cupcakes
Because this homemade pumpkin cupcake recipe is based off of my pumpkin cake, you’ll notice the ingredients are almost exactly the same. In a nutshell, we halve the cake recipe to yield about 12 cupcakes. The spices and vanilla extract aren’t completely halved. Rather, I kept both on the higher side for plenty of FLAVOR! Here’s what you need:
Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream cheese frosting is a pumpkin cupcake’s BFF. Here’s what I love most about this duo: cream cheese frosting doesn’t take away from the pumpkin flavor. Rather, it lets the pumpkin cupcakes shine. Cream cheese frosting is not selfish. That’s a true friend, is it not?! 😉 We’d have a different story with, say, vanilla buttercream because it’s too sweet, too heavy, and too overpowering. This cream cheese frosting will hold a little shape if you pipe it, though a simple swirl with a knife works too. I like to use a round tip for piping, like Ateco 808 large round because it resembles a big puffy cloud on top. It’s the same frosting and piping tip I use for carrot cake cupcakes, too. If you really want to go wild, try this brown butter cream cheese frosting from my banana layer cake, this cinnamon cream cheese frosting from my banana cupcakes, this pumpkin spice cream cheese frosting from my pumpkin bars, or this salted caramel frosting. Or use chai spice buttercream—another favorite fall flavor! For decoration/garnish, we love using these little pumpkins. Or you can try these festive fall sprinkles or mellowcreme pumpkins. We also used these cupcakes as the perfect base to decorate Halloween cupcakes!
More Perfect Pumpkin Recipes
Pumpkin Muffins & Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies & Pumpkin Snickerdoodles Pumpkin Roll Brown Butter Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies & Pumpkin Oatmeal Cream Pies Pumpkin Bread Pumpkin Bundt Cake Mini Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Muffins Recipes to Make With Leftover Pumpkin Puree
For even more inspiration, here are my 30+ best pumpkin dessert recipes.
