These mini pumpkin cupcakes, topped with classic sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting, are incredibly fluffy, moist, and full of fall flavor. They disappear in seconds!
You’re going to love these adorable mini pumpkin cupcakes, dressed as cute little ghosts.
As we all know, anything with pumpkin puree is amazingly soft and fluffy. And these cupcakes are no exception. Texture-wise, these cupcakes are the best: fluffy, moist (I’m not afraid of this word!), and super soft!
So what makes them so incredibly soft and moist?
Couple of things:
- Pumpkin puree, of course!
- A splash of buttermilk does make a difference.
- Creaming the butter and sugar, creating air bubbles in the batter, helps too.
The process of making the cupcakes is absolutely easy. Mix the dry ingredients. Cream the butter and sugar, then mix in the remaining wet ingredients. Combine the two and bake. Easy-peasy!
One thing I always stress though is to make sure your ingredients, like butter, egg, buttermilk, pumpkin puree, are all at room temperature.
That way everything mixes together easier resulting the best texture possible. Why? Beating the softened butter with sugar, for example, will trap more air bubbles in the batter for fluffier cake, which is impossible with cold butter.
If you add cold eggs into nicely creamed butter/sugar mixture, the batter may curdle, creating an uneven texture in the final product. Quick tip. If you forgot to take the eggs out, simply place them in a mug full of hot tap water (not boiling!) for 5 minutes or so.
As always, here is the step-by-step photo instruction for you.
You can find the step-by-step photo-tutorial for cream cheese frosting right here.
Hope you’ll enjoy these adorable Halloween treats.
Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes
Ingredients
For cupcakes:
- 1 cup 125gr all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon pumpkin spice
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon all-spice
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup 55gr unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 2 tablespoons buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For cream cheese frosting:
- 4 oz 110gr cream cheese, softened
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream or milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Black sesame seeds or black food coloring for decoration, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line the mini cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, all the spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy for 1-2 minutes. Mix in the egg, pumpkin puree, buttermilk and vanilla extract and beat for another 2 minutes, or until well combined. Add prepared dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Don’t overmix to avoid dense and heavy cupcakes.
- Divide the batter into mini cupcake cups and bake for 8-10 minutes. When cooked, the inserted toothpick should come out clean. Cool the cupcakes in the tin for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Once the cupcakes are cooled, make the cream cheese frosting. In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy for 1 minute. Add powdered sugar, heavy cream and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed for a minute. Then increase the speed to medium high and continue to beat until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Transfer the frosting into the pastry bag fitted with plain round tip (I used Wilton 1A.). To frost the cupcakes as pictured, simply pipe a small dollop, then another smaller one on top. Place two black sesame seeds for eyes, or place two dots using a black gel food-coloring.
Tips & Notes:
Donald Starr says
Love this recipe. The pumpkin cupcake is moist and flavorful. Have made these each Halloween for the past several years to share with friends and family. I did make one change. I used colored nonpareils instead of the black sesame seeds. Everyone likes them.
Shinee says
Awesome!!! Thank you so much for sending the photo, Donald. Your cupcakes look super cute! I love the colored nonpareils – great idea!!
Ramona - A Dutchie Baking says
These are super cute! 🙂
Shinee says
Thank you, Ramona!