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Wow, it’s December already! The last week in November got away from me… looking back, it was a week of cooking, cleaning, cooking, shopping, cooking, eating. Now that my kitchen is no longer a whirlwind and my pants will button again, I can get back to baking and blogging.
I made this recipe for a function at work; the cake recipe came as a recommendation from one of my twitter followers. If I could locate the tweet, I would give them a little shout out, but unfortunately I deleted it by accident! Thanks for the recipe, Katie!
These pumpkin cupcakes are truly delightful…they are light, flavorful and super moist. The cinnamon cream cheese frosting made them even more amazing because the flavor combination was truly harmonious. If you have any leftover pumpkin from your holiday feast, definitely give these a whirl. I guarantee you will love ‘em! Just be warned, these were a contributing factor of all my pants fitting a tad too snug. Well, that and all the damn stuffing I shoved down my face!
Have a fabulous day! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Pumpkin Cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the Pumpkin Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree
For the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
2 (8) ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
2 lbs. confectioners’ sugar
1 TBS ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions:
For the Pumpkin Cake
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin puree.
3. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.
For the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
1. Using a mixer, blend the butter and cream cheese together until well combined.
2. Gradually add in the confectioners’ sugar until fully incorporated.
3. Finally mix in vanilla and cinnamon.
Notes:
- I used this large French Tip from Bake It Pretty to pipe the frosting. I love this piping tip more than words can express! The site is pretty darn awesome too!
- adapted from Martha Stewart
All images and text ©Follow Jamie on Instagram. We love to see what you're baking from MBA! Be sure to tag @jamiemba and use the hashtag #mbarecipes!
[pinit]
Hi Jamie! I am planning on making these for work, look amazing. I was wondering it says 2 POUNDS of confectioners sugar, did you mean 2 CUPS?
Sammie-
It is actually two pounds. I hope this helps.
-Jamie
In my tired baking state I actually forgot to add the butter to these cupcakes! I was so worried about how they would come out and yet they came out deliciously. The pumpkin kept it moist and rich and perfect. I will definitely use this recipe again, and I may skip the butter then too!
Steph-
I am glad the recipe turned out well for you! Thanks for visiting.
-Jamie
These look amazing. Trying them today. What is the drizzle on top?
Cheryl-
There isn’t a drizzle on top of these cupcakes, just frosting. I hope this helps.
-Jamie
Can you make this as a layer cake?
Hi Shauna,
That should be fine, but you’ll need to increase the baking time for cake pans. I haven’t done it, so I don’t know exactly how long, but I’d guess the cakes would need to bake at least 35-40 minutes.
– Jamie
I tried your pumpkin roll recipe and it went flawlessly! It was absolutely delicious and everyone loved it. I was excited to try this cupcake recipe. I am not sure what I did wrong but the pumpkin cake was not as tasty as the cake on the pumpkin roll and I had an enormous amount of icing left over. Any ideas on what I can try to improve it for next time?
Amy, taste is pretty subjective, so I can’t really help much here. What is it about the cake that you didn’t like as much? Moistness? Up the oil level slightly. Spices? Add more. As for icing, as you can probably tell from most of my cupcake photos, I’m a fan of piping on lots of frosting. That’s probably why you had some left over.
– Jamie
Holy cow these are amazing, but my icing is too thin and kind of oozes rather than sits nicely on top. Tips?
Try chilling the frosting for 10 minutes before adding it to the cake. Also make sure the cake is *completely* cool before you try to frost it.
– Jamie
Just made these today and they are amazing! my husband is going to take them to work tomorrow – should i refrigerate them overnight because of the cream cheese icing?
Hi,
Just had a question- how long do they keep for? I want to make them for work and I was thinking of making the cupcakes the night before, the icing that morning?
Thanks!
They should keep for at least 2 days in the refrigerator, so that should be fine.
– Jamie
Made these yesterday and they are perfect and delicious! I totally thought the spices were going to be too much…not at all! The cupcakes are moist the frosting isn’t over powering. A beautiful combination! Plus, I made them for a church function and got rave reviews from everyone who had one. This recipe is a keeper! Thank you for sharing!
Kathy-
Thank you so much! It’s wonderful to hear that they were such a hit! Thanks for stopping in to share. Have a great day!
-Jamie
You had me at “cinnamon cream cheese frosting”! These were sooooo good and a great subsstitute for a pumpkin roll up. Thansk for the great recipe!!
J
You’re very welcome! I’m in love with the frosting too! Have a fantastic day and thank you so much for following MBA!
-Jamie