Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

These Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting have got to be added to your fall to do list! Simply put, these cupcakes are seriously delicious! I mean how could you go wrong with a moist pumpkin cupcake that has the perfect balance of fluffiness and density to it, and it’s laced with all those enticing fall spices spices and topped with a decadently divine cream cheese frosting? No one will be able to resist.

I recently shared a very similar cake, this Pumpkin Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting, but for these cupcakes I decided to switch things up for two reasons. That cake comes out level, I wanted cupcakes that were tall and proud (for a cake it’s perfect but for these cupcakes I wanted the cake portion to be tall and puffy), and number two why post the same recipe again, right? How boring is that :)?

If you want to be able to have a pipe-able, non-runny cream cheese frosting be sure to follow the tips listed at the bottom of the recipe. If you want to use the same pumpkins I used for decoration I used these Wilton ones HERE which I purchased at Michaels but you can find them at Joann’s and a number of other places. You could also just use those cute little pumpkin candies for a cheaper alternative.

Enjoy!

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Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 24 minutes
Yield: 1 dozen
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 large eggs
3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp canned pumpkin puree
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger for 20 seconds, set aside.

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, whisk together granulated sugar with brown sugar until no lumps remain. Add canola oil, set mixer with paddle attachment (one that scrapes the bowl is preferred otherwise stop and scrape bowl occasionally throughout entire mixing process) and blend mixture on medium speed until well combined. Mix in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in pumpkin and vanilla. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in flour mixture and mix until combined, then stop mixer and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl and fold batter to ensure it is well blended.

Divide batter among 12 paper lined muffins cups, filling each about 3/4 full and adding a heaping 1/4 cup batter to each well. Bake in preheated oven 20 - 24 minutes until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cool in muffin tin several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
For the cream cheese frosting:

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together cream cheese and butter until smooth and fluffy. Mix in vanilla and powdered sugar and whip until light and fluffy (at this point I recommend freezing or chilling frosting in refrigerator for a bit, returning to mixer and stirring occasionally, for a more stable consistency). Pipe or spread frosting over cupcakes then store in refrigerator in an airtight container. Bring nearly to room temp before serving.

Recipe Source: cupcake portion adapted with slight changes from Chow

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Source: cookingclassy.com
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