Pumpkin Cupcakes for Halloween

Pumpkin cupcakes are a great dessert for the fall. The delicious pumpkin flavor with the warmth of pumpkin pie spice makes it a pleasant treat for your friends and family.

You can decorate them as per your choice and make a spooky treat for a Halloween party. These pumpkin cakes are made with no eggs. This is an easy recipe to make moist pumpkin cupcakes at home.

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• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Serving suggestions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Storage
• Related
• 📖 Recipe
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Ingredients

Pumpkin cupcakes are easy to make at home. You will need pumpkin puree, either homemade or store-bought. If you are using store-bought one then look for cans that say pumpkin or pumpkin puree, you don't have to buy pumpkin pie filling.

As these cupcakes are made without eggs, you will also need baking soda and baking powder as leavening agents. All-purpose flour, organic cane sugar, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract, milk, and oil are the other basic pantry ingredients.

For icing, store-bought cream cheese icing will work or you can make it at home using cream cheese, heavy cream, and icing sugar.

For decoration, googly eyes, sprinkles, cupcake liners, and other Halloween-related props can be used.

Instructions

To make pumpkin cupcakes, first, make a smooth batter by mixing all the wet and dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. You can use a stand mixer bowl and the wire attachment to mix everything on medium speed.

While mixing, scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula to ensure that all the ingredients get mixed well.

The batter must be smooth, free of any lumps, and of dropping consistency. If the batter is runny you can add a little flour and if it is too thick you can adjust the consistency by adding some milk.

Preheat the oven to 350°F with the rack on the middle level. While the oven is preheating, line a muffin pan with cupcake liners, preferably Halloween-themed ones. Fill the cupcake liners about ⅔rd with the pumpkin cupcake batter.

Once the oven is preheated, bake the cupcakes in the oven for about 18 minutes at the temperature of 350°F. Insert a toothpick or a butter knife to test for doneness. If they come out clean that is an indication that the cupcakes are baked, else you can bake them for a few more minutes until done.

Let the cupcakes rest in the muffin pan for a few minutes until they cool down a little bit and then transfer them onto a cooling wire rack.

Once they cool down completely apply cream cheese frosting or buttercream frosting. Decorate them with googly eyes and colorful sprinkles. You can also add orange, purple, or black food color to the icing to go with the Halloween theme.

Serving suggestions

Once the cupcakes cool down completely, apply the cream cheese frosting or buttercream frosting. You can use food colors to make frosting of orange, green, purple, black, or any other color for Halloween.

Apply sprinkles and decorate with googly eyes and more decorations of your choice. To add more flavor, sprinkle some pumpkin spice on the frosting.

You can also serve them with some pumpkin ice cream or pumpkin cheesecake ice cream.

Variations

• Frosting - you can use buttercream frosting instead of cream cheese frosting.
• Sprinkles - you can skip them or decorate the cupcakes as per your liking.
• Nuts - add some nuts to make pumpkin muffins and you can skip the frosting.

You might also like air fryer chocolate cupcakes, air fryer vanilla cupcakes, and air fryer banana muffin recipes.

Equipment

To make pumpkin cupcakes you will need an electric mixer like a hand mixer or a stand mixer. I like to use my 5 qt. KitchenAid bowl lift stand mixer with the wire attachment. A hand blender with a whisk attachment will work well too.

A muffin pan lined with cupcake liners, preferably Halloween cupcake liners if you are making them for a Halloween-themed event.

The cupcakes are baked in a convection oven. Once they are done, a cooling rack is helpful to cool them completely before icing them using a piping bag.

Storage

Pumpkin cupcakes can be stored at room temperature for 2-3 days. If you want to store them longer you can freeze them without the frosting. Let them thaw at room temperature or defrost in the microwave and then apply icing before eating them.

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