Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
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Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting recipe is sure to become your fall party staple! Take these mini pumpkin cupcakes to a class Halloween Party, Thanksgiving dinner, or just enjoy them during a cozy fall baking weekend.
When you see these tiny candy pumpkins pop up at your grocery store, now you know they’ll make the cutest and easiest cupcake toppers. Mini cupcakes are perfect for fall parties and for little hands. It’s a match made in autumn heaven!
For this recipe, I basically combined my Pumpkin Bars recipe with the cupcake base of my Pumpkin Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache and Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting (one of my favorite cupcakes).
Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
These cute mini cupcakes pack a lot of sweetness, moisture, flavor, and pumpkin-y goodness into one little bite. They would be perfect for a Halloween party or for Thanksgiving of course. You can’t have Thanksgiving without some kind of pumpkin dessert, right? Or you can make them and eat them for breakfast like my kids did, when they aren’t frosted they are basically a fluffy pumpkin muffin so I figured why not?
Kids absolutely love these mini treats—and not just eating them. Kids are great helpers, and placing the little pumpkin candies on top of each cupcake is the perfect job for little hands.
Enjoy and share, because these are the perfect sharing size!
Other Pumpkin Treats to Try
If you’re a huge pumpkin fan, don’t worry. I’ve got even more where that came from. Pumpkin treats are a vital part of the autumn experience, so bookmark a few of these that sound delicious to you!
- Easy Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Iced Pumpkin Cookies
- Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Pumpkin Roll
- Pumpkin Granola
- Pumpkin Donuts
- Pumpkin Coffee Cake
Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and Candy Pumpkin Toppers Recipe
Follow Cooking Classy
Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup butter , melted and whisked to cool slightly
- 1/3 cup applesauce , at room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp canned pumpkin puree
- 2 1/2 Tbsp buttermilk
- 1 recipe Cream Cheese Frosting , recipe follows
- 44 pumpkin candies , optional
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 oz . cream cheese , softenend
- 1/4 cup butter , softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger, set aside. In a separate large mixing bowl, using and electric hand mixer on low speed, blend together light-brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter and applesauce until well combine and smooth, about 1 minute.
- Mix in egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Add pumpkin puree and buttermilk and mix until well blended. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix just until combine. Fill paper lined mini muffin cups 2/3 full (about 1 slightly heaping Tbsp in each) and bake in preheated oven 12 - 14 minutes until toothpick inserted into the center of cupcake comes out clean. Allow to cool completely then frost with Cream Cheese Frosting and optionally top each cupcake with a pumpkin candy. Store in an airtight container.
- Note: I would recommend serving these within an hour or two of topping them if you are adding the pumpkin candy because after that the frosting will begin to break the candy down. I would also recommend storing them in the refrigerator (if not enjoying within a few hours) in an airtight container and then let them rest at room temperature before serving.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Combine cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl and using an electric hand mixer on medium speed, blend together until light and fluffy. Add in powdered sugar and vanilla and blend on low speed until combine, then increase to medium and whip until smooth and fluffy.