Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting

Super soft spiced pumpkin cupcakes with a creamy cinnamon frosting. 

Pumpkin cupcakes are my absolute favorite autumn dessert. They even come before pumpkin spice lattes and apple pie! Their fluffy texture and subtle pumpkin flavor have me swooning every time. After long hours of recipe testing, I finally perfected my recipe. These cupcakes are moist, have a melt-in-your-mouth texture and just the right amount of sweetness. Packed with pumpkin spice and extra cinnamon, these are a real autumn treat! 

We are well into fall by now and I have gone full-blown autumn mood. The autumn decor is out, the scented candles are burning and I have my ridiculously thick and fluffy socks on. Even Chandler and Joey have adapted to the new season and are spending their evenings cuddled up on the sofa instead of seeking adventures outside. Especially Joey enjoys it when we sit together on the sofa and she’ll fall asleep on my chest, pretending to be a wool scarf, wrapping herself around my neck. To add to the autumn mood, I have set up a cocoa station in the kitchen stocked with cinnamon sticks, marshmallows and all kinds of goodness. It has been my go-to place before hitting the sofa and watching the third season of Scorpion, which I’m am currently binge watching. 

Beside the cocoa station, I also have a bunch of delicious baked goods in my freezer from various recipe testing sessions such as spice cake and zucchini muffins. My home is currently like the inside of a gingerbread house- filled with delicious sugary treats. While it’s great for spontaneous entertaining, it’s not so great for my waistline. 😉 

But enough about our home, let’s talk more about these delicious pumpkin cupcakes here. 

Texture 

I had to test various batches of these cupcakes before getting the consistency right. Since the pumpkin puree adds a lot of moisture to the cupcakes, getting the dry- to wet ingredients ratio right was crucial. While I usually add some milk or sour cream to a cake/muffin batter, these cupcakes don’t need it. They turn out super moist due to the addition of the pumpkin puree without being heavy or dense.  

Pumpkin puree 

In the past, I have tried making these cupcakes with homemade pumpkin puree as canned pumpkin isn’t available in my country. However, I highly recommend to skip the homemade puree and buy the canned version instead. Here’s why.

Making homemade pumpkin puree is not only an incredible amount of work, it can also be quite pricey as you need a very large pumpkin and end up with a very small amount of pumpkin puree. Even if you manage to get almost all of the water out and end up with a somewhat thick pumpkin puree, the taste is still not as concentrated as the canned version causing the cupcakes to lack pumpkin flavour. In addition, the color of the homemade pumpkin puree resembles more of a yellow than an orange and your pumpkin cupcakes won’t get that beautiful orange color. 

Like I mentioned canned pumpkin puree isn’t available here in Switzerland, so I had to special-order a few cans from an American food store. Yes, they were pricey and I had to pay extra for shipping. However, after taking a bite into those delicious pumpkin cupcakes I have no regrets! 

Cinnamon frosting 

If you read my latest posts, you’ll know that I have recently developed a liking for cream cheese frosting. Cream cheese frosting used to be something I avoided at all costs, but for some magical reason, lately it has become one of my favorite frostings to use on cupcakes and baked goods. Initially I had wanted to make these cupcakes with a mascarpone frosting but after testing it twice, came to the realisation that cream cheese is the better option here. The tangy flavour really brings out more of the pumpkin spice flavour. I don’t know why….but it just does! 

While frosted cupcakes should be stored in the fridge, you can also store the chilled cupcakes at room temperature for a few hours. The frosting will get quite soft but it will continue to hold its shape.  (The frosting on the photos looks slightly different- that is because it wasn’t the final batch that I tested. The latest version has a firmer, cinnamon-coloured frosting.)

Make Ahead 

These cupcakes are also a great make-ahead dessert as they become even softer and more flavorful the next day. You can bake these cupcakes a day ahead and continue with the frosting the next day. Or you can even freeze the already frosted cupcakes – yup that’s right! Simply freeze the cupcakes without wrapping them until the frosting is completely frozen, then transfer them into a Ziplock bag to store. To defrost, let them come to room temperature on the kitchen counter, about 3 hours before you’d like to enjoy them.

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