Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

These cute as a button mini Fall Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes are frosted with a caramel cream cheese icing. They’re the perfect two-bite size, and packed with Fall flavors. The dulce de leche cream cheese icing pairs beautifully with the flavors of pumpkin and spice. Serve them on your holiday desserts table and watch them disappear.

Easy Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes Recipe

Many of the recipes I share with you are birthed from real life experiences. These mini Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes are the perfect example of that fact. They begin with a spice cake mix that kick starts the whole process making it easy to pull together for bakers of all skill levels. One taste and no one will ever believe you started these mini fall cupcakes with a boxed cake mix. How to make easy Mini Fall Cupcakes (Pumpkin Spice Cupcake Recipe): (Scroll down for the full printable recipe card.)

• Heat Oven and Prep Muffin Pans – Preheat the oven. Line mini cupcake pans with paper liners.
• Dry Ingredients – In a large bowl use a whisk to sift together cake mix, flour, pudding mix and light brown sugar.
• Add Wet Ingredients – Add pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, buttermilk, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.
• Combine – Use an electric mixer on medium-high speed to beat on until fully combined around 2 minutes.
• Transfer Cupcake Batter to Pan – Fill each mini muffin cup about 2/3 full.
• Oven – Bake per the recipe until a toothpick inserted into the center comes back clean.
• Cool – Cool mini fall cupcakes on a wire rack.
• Once cooled, frost the tops with dulce de leche cream cheese icing or using my classic cream cheese frosting recipe and garnish with toffee bits.

How to Make the BEST Mini Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes Recipe

• Ingredients you’ll need to make homemade mini Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes: One 15.25 ounce box of Spice cake mix, pumpkin puree, light brown sugar, all purpose flour, large eggs, melted butter, buttermilk, vanilla extract, vegetable oil and instant vanilla pudding.
• Kitchen tools you’ll need: Hand mixer or stand mixer, large bowl, whisk, measuring cups and spoons, large rubber spatula or spoon, mini muffin pans, mini cupcake liners and small scoop or teaspoon.
• Why add flour? The amount of product in a box of cake mix these days seems to be shrinking regularly. When I first developed this recipe, cake mixes were a standard 16.25 ounce. Due to the “shrinkage” of cake mixes I add additional dry ingredients to accommodate. It adds volume and stabilizes the batter.
• The pumpkin needed for this recipe is canned 100% pumpkin puree not pumpkin pie filling. You can find it on the baking aisle of most grocery stores year-round.
• Substitutions: Instant vanilla pudding lends a beautiful flavor and texture to the pumpkin cupcakes. You could use instant cheesecake pudding mix instead.
• Variations: You could add 1 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans to the cupcake batter. The nuts should be finely chopped, since these are mini cupcakes. You could also use mashed sweet potatoes in place of pumpkin for mini sweet potato cupcakes.
• This recipe will easily make 70-80 mini pumpkin cupcakes, so if you’re short on cupcake pans you may need to borrow a couple from a friend. Otherwise, bake in batches but always allow time for the pan to cool completely before filling again.
• A small cookie or ice cream scoop is super handy for dividing the batter evenly between the wells of the mini muffin pan. You can use a teaspoon, too.
• Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before frosting with my recipe for Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Icing.
• Storage and Leftovers: Store frosted Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes in an airtight container chilled in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
• Freezer: You can freeze these mini fall cupcakes in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. If you stack the cupcakes, wait to frost them after thawing in the fridge.

More Pumpkin Desserts to Make

For more pumpkin desserts to love, you may find other recipes to try

• Pumpkin Spice Layered Lush is a seasonal spinoff of lush desserts.
• These Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes are cute as can be!
• Pumpkin Cake Roll with Pecan Toffee Cream Cheese Filling can be made in advance then frozen until you’re ready to serve it.
• Pumpkin Pie Crumble is spectacular served warm with vanilla ice cream.
• Handheld Pumpkin Whoopie Pies are a grab-n-go dessert option.
• Start your day with a stack of Pumpkin French Toast.
• Pumpkin Pie Punch from The Cookie Rookie.

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Helpful Kitchen Items:

• Mini Muffin Pan
• Mixing Bowls
• Measuring Set
• Mixer