Soft and moist pumpkin spice cupcakes with a sweet and tangy maple cream cheese frosting. This pumpkin cupcake recipe is easy to make and full of delicious fall flavor!
We love cupcake recipes all year-round! From apple pie cupcakes in the fall to carrot cake cupcakes in the spring and these easy vanilla cupcakes anytime!
Table of Contents
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
These pumpkin spice cupcakes (along with my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies)were first on my list of pumpkin recipes. They’re easy to make (you don’t even need a mixer) and are full of pumpkin spice flavor. They taste like a glorified pumpkin muffin with the addition of a tangy and sweet maple cream cheese frosting on top.
The pumpkin puree gives them a super moist and tender texture, while the pumpkin pie spice adds just the right amount of fall flavor. They are a great to make for a Halloween dessert or to add to your Thanksgiving menu. Your guests will love them!
Recipe Ingredients
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
- Flour: All-purpose flour works best. It is thick and creates the base of the pumpkin cupcakes.
- Pumpkin pie spice: All the pumpkin spice fall flavors in one bottle – ground allspice, ground nutmeg, ground ginger, and ground cloves.
- Baking soda: This helps the cupcakes rise while baking.
- Cinnamon: Just a pinch gives a beautiful flavor of sweet and woody flavor.
- Pumpkin puree: Canned or store-bought pumpkin puree works great.
- Sugar: Brown sugar and sugar are both used in this pumpkin cupcake recipe. Both sugars bring in sweetness but also give the cupcakes a soft texture.
- Canola oil: A moist cupcake comes from the oil. You can also use vegetable oil too.
- Eggs: Have the eggs at room temperature before mixing them together.
How to Make Pumpkin Spice Cupcake Recipe
These are the best pumpkin cupcakes plus easier than pumpkin pie or pumpkin bundt cake!
- Combine. Whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
- Whisk. In a large bowl, whisk together or use a hand mixer to mix the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, sugar, canola oil, and eggs and mix until well blended. Mix in the flour mixture until combined.
- Fill muffin tin. Scoop into prepared muffin tin with cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the pan and let cool on a cooling rack.
- Mix. For the frosting, beat together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar slowly and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and maple extract. If necessary, add more powdered sugar until the frosting is firm enough to hold its shape but still light and fluffy.
- Frosting. Frost the cooled pumpkin spice cupcakes with a 1M frosting tip or piping bag if desired.
Baking Tips
- Pumpkin puree vs. pie filling. Many people often get confused about whether to use pumpkin puree or pumpkin pie filling. Pie filling has extra sugar and spice added in which will make the cupcakes overly sweet. Look for the plain puree, or even learn how to make pumpkin puree from scratch.
- Filling the pan. You don’t want to fill the muffin cups all the way with batter. Only about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way full so that they have room to rise while baking. I’ve found that using a large cookie scoop to fill each cup is the perfect amount.
- Toothpick test. Stick a toothpick in the centers to test if they are done. Also, try not to open the oven too much while baking (so that the heat doesn’t escape and cause the cupcakes to deflate).
- Cool before frosting. It’s important that you let the cupcakes cool completely before adding the frosting on top. If they are still warm, the frosting could melt and won’t hold its shape.
- Top with extras. To take these cupcakes to the next level, drizzle with a homemade caramel sauce and add an extra sprinkle of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice.
Frosting for Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
The sweet maple cream cheese frosting is the perfect complement to pumpkin spice in pumpkin cupcakes. It’s easy to make with only 5 ingredients in just 5 minutes. Of course, you could always use a classic cream cheese frosting or cinnamon buttercream, but the maple extract adds a boost of sweet flavor that makes these cupcakes undeniable.
Make sure the consistency of your frosting is thick enough to hold its shape when piping. I like to use a 1M star tip to frost the perfect cupcakes. It’s easy to use and makes them look like they came from a local bakery! If you don’t have a tip, you could always snip the corner off a zip-top bag and pipe the frosting on that way.
More pumpkin recipes to try include pumpkin roll, pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin cinnamon rolls!
More Delicious Fall Desserts
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Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
Video
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cupcakes:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- ½ cup light brown sugar , packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup canola oil
- 2 eggs
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 Tablespoons butter , softened
- 8 ounces cream cheese , softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar , more as needed
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons maple extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare 12 muffin cups by lining them with paper liners. Whisk together the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, sugar, canola oil, and eggs and mix until well blended. Mix in the flour mixture until combined.
- Scoop into prepared muffin tin, filling 1/2 to 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the pan and let cool on a cooling rack.
- For the frosting, beat together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar slowly and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and maple extract. If necessary, add more powdered sugar until the frosting is firm enough to hold its shape but still light and fluffy.
- Frost the cooled cupcakes with a 1M frosting tip or piping bag if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Recipe FAQs
Moist cupcakes come from oil, sugar, or butter. These ingredients will help boost the pumpkin spice cupcakes and create a moist and delicious dessert every time!
It is best to use a piping tip and piping bag to help create the best look and swirl. Use a 1M star tip to frost the perfect cupcakes. It is thick and creamy!
If you have pumpkin spice cupcakes to make ahead for a party or get-together, this recipe is for you! Any leftover pumpkin spice cupcakes can be stored fridge for up to 5 days if stored in an airtight container. You can’t keep them at room temperature due to the dairy content from the cream cheese in the frosting.
You may also freeze the cupcakes for up to 3 months, however, I prefer to freeze them before adding the frosting on top.
Categorized as: American, Cake + Cupcakes, Desserts, Fruit Desserts, Halloween, Nut-Free, Thanksgiving, Vegetarian
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
This recipe is so good!!!
So moist and flavourful! Highly recommend. Super easy to make.
Amazing!! These cupcakes are so light and fluffy and moist! They’re definitely the best (and easiest) pumpkin cupcakes I’ve ever made. I doubled the recipe and made 2 dozen mini and 2 dozen regular cupcakes. Will make them again for sure! Coming from a 13 year old 😊
I’m so glad you liked them! Thanks for leaving a comment! :)
Salted or unsalted butter for the frosting?
I usually use unsalted butter.
Anything Pumpkin is a huge win in this family! That combo of cream cheese and pumpkin is just so dang good, and with the sprinkles on top these will be gone in seconds at my house. Awesome recipe!
Hope you enjoy! So glad it’s finally getting to pumpkin season! :)
Baking during Fall is the BEST! These cupcakes look incredible and the kit to decorate them looks really fun too!
Fall baking is my favorite! Hope you enjoy these! :)
So good!! Love anything with pumpkin and these cupcakes are the best!
These cupcakes are so cute and I’m a sucker for anything Pumpkin Spice!
I love these! My kids love them too. So much that they want tot take them to the fall festival next week. Thanks for the recipe!
I can’t wait to make these with my daughter for thanksgiving. Just wanted to check, the icing is cinnamon cream cheese but there is no cinnamon in the icing? Is that correct? thanks.
Good eye! “Cinnamon” should have been “Maple.” I update the recipe – thank you! :)
These cupcakes look amazing and pumpkin spice just is the perfect ingredient for fall.
These look amazing, can’t wait to try the recipe!
Oh god… This is perfect for fall. The cupcakes look great and not hard to make. I myself am not too big of a fan of sweets, but the kids will love these. I always try to make something special for them during the weekends.
The cupcake gifting set is adorable.
Greetings from UK!
– Emily –
Found your recipe on Made by You Monday. Had to pin it to our Autumn Board and look forward to making them soon!
Hi, these look really good! I like the gift idea too.
Alicia, these cupcakes are adorable, and so yummy looking! I love those festive fall sprinkles you topped them with!
These cupcakes look delicious! We make pumpkin cupcakes with a maple buttercream frosting every fall and they’re one of our favorite treats to enjoy!
Paige
I’m so glad that pumpkin spice is back!! I’ve been waiting for it! Love the cupcakes and the toppers!