Remember this guy?
No? I didn’t think so.
Just kidding! Here in blogworld, we all love pumpkin! And now since Labor Day has come and gone, ’tis the season!
And it just so happened that yesterday was one of those days when I desperately needed a cupcake. You know those days…I know you do. They usually come in the form of cramps, broken camera lens and bills but what do I know? After doing so much cooking lately (I have a killer vegetarian lasagna recipe coming your way tomorrow!), all I wanted to do was get my grubby little hands on a stick of butter and bake my brains out.
Mission accomplished.
These tasty little treats hail from this pumpkin cake recipe that I featured last fall! The original recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks, My Nepenthe, and just flipping through the pages makes me even more excited about a Big Sur camping trip scheduled for next month.
These cupcakes are rich, spicy and very pumpkiny! Perfect for celebrating the beginning of fall. Without the frosting, you could totally serve them as muffins but who in their right mind would do something like that?
Cream cheese frosting is where. it’s. at. Read this to see how I frost my cupcakes! It’s totally not fancy and most of the extra frosting ends up in my mouth…duh.
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
makes about 8 cupcakes
adapted from Bohemian Wedding Cake recipe
Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 15-ounce can pumpkin
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
pinch ground white pepper (optional)
pinch of ground nutmeg
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp molasses
cream cheese frosting:
8 oz cream cheese
1 stick butter, softened
~2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 and grease your cupcake tins.
In a bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground cloves, nutmeg and white pepper. Set aside.
In another bowl, stir together the canola oil, egg, pumpkin, molasses, brown sugar and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
Spoon batter into prepared cupcake tin and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until light and springy. Let cool completely before icing.
To make frosting, beat cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla together until thick and smooth. Transfer icing into a pastry bag with a tip or a plastic bag with the tip cut off. Frost cupcakes and store in the refrigerator until serving.
Time:
1.5 hours (including cooling time)
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{ 91 comments… read them below or add one }
I read this post as I eat a bowl full of pumkin oatmeal (for the 6th straight day). What do you think the odds are that I will be making this?
What is pumpkin oatmeal? I must know!! That sounds like my heaven!
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I’ve never really baked with pumpkin before but these look awesome!
Heck YES. These are being made. LOVE
Delicious! The cream cheese frosting must be perfect with the cupcakes
Any suggestions on how to “veganfy” this recipe??
They look delicious!!!
It would probably become a different recipe then! Maybe try a vegan cookbook or vegan website?
Just a few tips:
Instead of the egg use 1 tbsp of flax mixed with 2-3 tbsp of water.
Then use earth balance for the butter and a vegan cream cheese (like tofutti) (you sometimes have to add a dash of salt depending on the brands used).
Thanks for the tips Bridget!!!
P.S I re-read that and it seems to come off wrong. Hope you didn’t think so – not my intention!
I know OSG has great vegan muffin recipes.
pumpkin and cream cheese frosting are a match made in heaven. this makes me so excited about fall!
ahh your killing me. Its 8am and now I’ll be craving one of these all.day. They look SO goood!
YESSSS. I have a whole stockpile of pumpkin waiting for me to bust into in the fridge. I can’t wait to start using it!
Oh my. That’s my version of heaven right there. I actually made sweet potato pecan cupcakes with cream cheese frosting last week and they were amazing, so I can just imagine how good these taste
I love cream cheese frosting with ANYTHING, but with pumpkin cupcakes? Marvelous….just wonderful. I love Fall!
Pumpkin time, pumpkin time, everybody loves pumpkin time.
Yum. Thanks for the very doable recipe (as they always are).
Happy Thursday.
Love pumpkin muffins…and the cream cheese mountain atop kinda makes me love these even more
Ooooooh yesss! My hands are already slightly orange tinted because of all the carrots I eat, but in fall they get even worse because of pumpkin! These muffins won’t help me to get rid of the tint, but that definitely won’t stop me from making them!
I’m so glad pumpkin is baaaaack!!!!! I’m going to buy a case tonight and let my imagination and stomach go wild!
Holy moly! This is what makes for a happy wake-up on a dreary Thursday morning.
In a couple of weeks, my partner and I are attending a Garlic Festival (it’s way more awesome than its name sounds), and I can’t wait to make this cupcakes for the car ride. Wow. Just wow.
This is what we’ve all been waiting for…pumpkin! So excited to eat food like this again.
All I would really need to be happy is a big bowl of the frosting
Love cream cheese frosting.
And the cupcakes..wow. I always say I am not a huge pumpkin girl like everyone else in the sphere is but I have to say you wouldn’t have to twist my arm to dive into these bad boys!
You won’t even believe me when I say this but I have a sorta-kinda baby shower I’m hosting this weekend and I was like omgishouldmakepumpkincupcakeswithcreamcheesefrosting ……….. and I read your blog first thing every morning. It’s fate! Thank you for this recipe… I’m going to attempt to make it gluten-free but I’m making ZERO substitutes for the frosting.
Okay, that’s all. XOX Jenna
and p.s. broken camera lens? That sucks!!!! Which one?
You and your iphone, computer, and your various gadgets not having good luck lately!
Hopefully the lens wasn’t tooooo expensive…..
Just looking at these cupcakes makes me feel better about the gray and rainy day outside. Oh, pumpkin, I’ve missed you so!
Do you ship these internationally?
Thank you for posting this! I am on a pumpkin kick right now, I just made oatmeal pumpkin pancakes for breakfast! These look absolutely fabulous!
As soon as it became Septemeber I think everyone has gone pumpkin mad…and I kinda love it! One of these would go well with a pumpkin spice latte if I do say so myself. Yay to fall and all things pumpkin!
Anything with cream cheese frosting and I’m sold
I’ve got 4 big cans of Libby’s from last year just waiting to be opened!
I think we’re about to be flooded with pumpkin recipes, tis’ the season is right! I’m all too happy about it though as fall is one of my favorite season and pumpkin is one of my favorite ingredients! Beautiful cupcakes.
Perfect cupcake
YUM.
These are ok for breakfast right…?
Pumpkin cupcakes are good any time of year — and cream cheese frosting is the best!
These make me crazy excited for the Fall!!
This is going to be perfect for the new football season! Not that I watch… I’ll just stay in the kitchen and make goodies
There’s nothing I love more than pumpkin! It’s such a great reminder of fall.
Wow…why to start the season off right!
I made cream cheese frosting yesterday, but it ended up so loose and running. Yours looks excellent! 
Oh my heavens. See, it is ALL about the frosting in my world and these cupcakes of yours just stole my heart.
Pumpkin is back with a vengeance this year, no!? I mean, I love it just much as the next pumpkin loving blogger but doesn’t it seem like it is popping up everywhere earlier this year than previous years? No complaining here just an observation! September 1 hit and BAM pumpkin EVERYWHERE haha
Gahhd, Jenna we’ve been on the same brain wavelength lately – the banana bread muffins, the roasted chicken… – I’ve been dying to do a pumpkin dessert but couldn’t figure out a great recipe. Now, to the kitchen!
I’ve seen lots of pumpkin cupcakes this week. They may push me over the edge to make some asap. Yum!
oh, jenna, this recipe just made my morning! i cannot get enough pumpkin, especially as the weather turns cool and fall rolls in. i’m a little nervous about taking the plunge and making my own frosting, but this recipe may just convince me to give it a try!
Hi Jenna,
I couldn’t find pumpkin at the store. The only thing they had was that filling for pumpkin pie. Could I use that instead? Thanks!
I am so excited for pumpkin season! Love the cupcakes!
yes.yes.yes please. I LOVE pumpkin and cream cheese!
thank you, thank you, thank you!!
LOVE.
These look incredible! Love your pictures as well.
YUM!
And there’s nothing better than TJ’s pumpkin!
These are amazingly perfect for fall!!
These sound perfect for a rainy day like today!
Pumpkin Cupcakes are the best as is camping in the fall. Do I hear a s’mores-ish recipe coming?!?!?
these look like a perfect fall breakfast item.
So glad you posted these Jenna! I’m so excited for fall and seeing the pumpkin made my morning. Thanks
.
YAY for pumpkin season!!!!
This reminds me of last August when I told my sister that I would bake her a cake for her birthday party. I showed her your ‘cakes’ section under your recipes and she decided she wanted the Pumpkin Whoopie Pies! Forget the fact that it was dead of summer, luckily my mom stores cans of pumpkin year round!
Yeah… so I was all ready drooling when I read the title of this post & saw the picture ….but then when I scrolled down & saw that the recipe was based on bohemian wedding cake, I pretty much squealed in delight. I was just thinking to myself that it was the perfect time of year to use that recipe again … and now I have another (destined to be favorite) recipe to add to the line up.
Thank you
I am going to have to disagree with you. CINNAMON cream cheese frosting is where it’s at.
I just made pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes with cream cheese frosting!! Yum! Great minds think alike!
Your pumpkin cake was one of the first things I ever made off your blog and it was SO good!! Cannot wait to try these. Thanks, Jenna!
Great! Just what I needed.
It looks delicious as usual.
Yum! It really doesn’t get much better than pumpkin and cream cheese frosting.
My grandma makes me a pumpkin praline torte with real whipped cream every September for my b-day – just finished eating a slice for my morning snack.
Thinking the next pumpkin treat will have to be these cupcakes.
I can’t believe pumpkin is back already. These look yummy
these look amazing and that frosting… wowzas, i want some!!
Um, yum? Let the pumpkin craze begin
Wow those look delicious, too bad I hate baking
guess I will have to share the recipe with my sister who loves baking.
I may the only blogger who hasnt tried pumpkin in a baked good…I wanna end that with these cupcakes!!
I cannot believe its pumpkin season!! WOW! These look great
Yum!! I love fall and everything pumpkin! I just made pumpkin pancakes last night – and made a an apple pie the other day just to celebrate fall!!
Yay! These look fantastic. I think they will be the inaugural food that is made with my NEW KitchenAid mixer! Woot! My hubby was moving his pumpkin beer from primary to secondary fermenter yesterday, and made me come smell it… Fall is in the air!
Yum.
Just came back from my third Big Sur trip this weekend. If you’re up for hiking, my favorite one so far is the Andrew Molera Park loop. Coastal bluffs ahoy!
I need to crack open a can of pumpkin! But first… Head to the store and by one (or a ton!). Cream cheese frosting is totally where it’s at. My all time favorite!
I’m loving the combination of pumpkin cupcakes and cream cheese frosting.
I know this might be a dumb question but does white pepper taste like black pepper?
You’re right, there is SO MUCH pumpkin love in the blog world! My pumpkin cravings are through the roof!
Made these this morning/afternoon, they smelled great while baking and they taste GREAT!!!!
anything pumpkin is an A+ in my book.
Yay!!! Fall is almost here!!!
wow…so excited for pumpkin season!
They look amazing. Can’t wait to get my bake on.
I would give a lot to have one of these right now. Wow! I just love pumpkin everything!
Ugh! Today is one of those I-need-a-cupcake-days; too much work, too little coffee, etc. These look amazing. I’m really excited all the pumpkin I’m starting to see. It’s never too early.
I know everyone is going nuts about pumpkin right now and I wish I could say I’m not…but I am! The sight of these cupcakes literally made my mouth start watering. YUM!!
Can’t wait for fall to arrive so I can make these! Starred them in my reader.
Delish! Must try these when it cools off and I’m willing to turn on my oven again.
OMG! I made these without the frosting today. This is the single best spice cake/pumpkin cake recipe I’ve ever made. I may have eaten almost the whole batch today, just sayin’
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! Already thinking of making the whole cake tomorrow….
Hi there!
I have been reading your blog for a long time but never commented before. I just finished eating the last one in the batch and must say these are heavenly! (I am a sucker for pumpkin and then add cream cheese…a tad obsessed). They are addicting and I had to actually hide them when I had company over so that some made it past the first day. Love love love and thank you!
i finally made these today. i have eaten three of them so far
delicious!
I need to make this. I am on such a pumpkin kick and this is perfect!
Baked these with my Mom today. Now we’re watching YouTube videos about how to frost pretty cupcakes. Obsessed!
Made these cupcakes tonight. FABULOUS! Only change I made was to cut back the margarine in the frosting to about 2 T. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Jenna,
I was wanting to make these cupcakes for a baby shower (with blue cream cheese icing, it’s a boy!) but I need to make more than the recipe calls for. Will doubling the ingredients keep the results the same? This may be a dumb question, but I just wanted to make sure before I make them. Thanks!
I made these tonight and they were awesome! After tasting the first batch I decided to make a second batch to take to work tomorrow. Wouldn’t change a thing! Oh, I should mention I just used cream cheese frosting from Target instead of making my own.
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