I can’t believe October is coming to an end. This month flew by and I don’t even know how. I’ve been doing some fun fall and Halloween activities which I am so thankful for, but I realized I haven’t made any Halloween treats yet this month and I was shocked! I felt that needed to be fixed ASAP. I decided to start with these simple pumpkin spice cupcakes and decorate them for Halloween, because the cupcakes themselves are a fall treat staple, but this way once Halloween passes you can still enjoy them sans the little festive toppers! What inspired me the most was this adorable Meri Meri cupcake kit, it was too cute not to use! I cannot wait for you all to try these!
These cupcakes are soft and moist, but not too fluffy that they crumble to nothing when you eat them. They definitely still have a bite to them, which I think is the perfect texture to enjoy the spices and pumpkin flavor that is so popular at this time of year. The texture also well supports a big dollop of cream cheese frosting, so that is definitely a cupcake win! I just know you are going to love these. Let me show you how to make them. 🙂
Let’s start by breaking down the dry ingredients. Apart from your basic flour, baking powder and salt mixture, the right spices need to be added to enhance the pumpkin flavor. Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves come together to create that classic pumpkin pie spice. So go ahead and add all of that to a bowl, mix it up and set aside.
In a larger, separate bowl, add the pumpkin puree, milk and vanilla extract and whisk until fully combined. This will serve as the wet ingredients we alternatively add to the batter with the dry ingredients! This method ensures a cohesive batter with that great texture we talked about.
In the bowl of your stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. I chose a mix of white and brown sugar because I like the molasses-y taste brown sugar yields, and the lighter texture white sugar adds. I didn’t want the cake to be too dense with just brown sugar. That just comes down to some baking science!
Once the butter is light and fluffy, alternatively add the flour mixture with the pumpkin mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Do not over mix! Better to finish off a few flour pockets with a gentle fold of the batter than to over mix, which will result in a gummy, tough cake!
Line two cupcake pans with cupcake liners. Fill them with batter 3/4 of the way up, for me this was one and a half scoops from my mini cookie scoop. Just make sure you leave some room in the liner for the cupcake to grow as it bakes. I was able to make 24 cupcakes with this recipe.
Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit or until a toothpick comes out clean. I baked mine for exactly 23 minutes. It really depends on how your oven functions, but I would say 20-25 minutes is a good time frame for baking.
Let cool completely, and move onto making the frosting! I used a basic cream cheese frosting because it is a perfect balance to the sweet pumpkin spice cupcake. I find that it is a great contrast and not too sweet!
All you need to do is cream together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy, before adding the powdered sugar and vanilla. Whip together until nice and fluffy! I’ve found that using cream cheese that is still somewhat cold and really soft butter yields a much better texture of frosting. It is less runny and much easier to decorate with.
That being said, I kept it pretty rustic and just rounded out some frosting dollops atop these cupcakes! Decorate as you please, and then serve! Like I mentioned earlier, I had this cupcake kit that I couldn’t not use!
These cupcakes would be perfect for any fall occasion and especially a Halloween bash if you decorate them like I did! Hope you all will try it out! Enjoy!
With Love,
Jenna
Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1 15 oz can pumpkin puree plain pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 stick butter room temperature
- 3 eggs
For the cream cheese frosting:
- 1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
- 1 stick butter room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
For the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl,mix together the pumpkin puree, milk and vanilla extract. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, or large bowl with your hand mixer, cream together the butter and the white and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs in one at a time, mixing until fully incorporated each time.
- Alternatively add the flour mixture and pumpkin mixture into the batter, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Do not overmix.
- Divide the batter evenly between two cupcake pans lined with cupcake liners. I used about one and a half scoops from my mini cookie scoop until the liner was 3/4 of the way full.
- Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted. I baked mine for exactly 23 minutes, so it just depends on your oven! I'd say they should be done within 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely.
For the cream cheese frosting:
- Mix together the cream cheese and room temperature butter until light and fluffy.
- Add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract and whip until spreadble.
- Pipe or spread on top of the cupcakes!