The Story:
Within two weeks, I feel like everything has turned to pumpkin. I drive down the street and I see every restaurant announcing pumpkin shakes, pumpkin steamers and pumpkin pie. Even the grocery stores have the big crates out in front, piled high with bright orange pumpkins.
Cheesecake Filling:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pumpkin Cakes:
½ cup oil
1/3 cup applesauce
1 cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/3 cup flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup milk
1 ¾ cup pumpkin puree
Cream Cheese Buttercream:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
½ cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
milk, if needed
Directions:
1. Filling: Beat cream cheese and sugar until evenly combined. Add egg and vanilla and mix until smooth. Place in a small Tupperware and put in freezer while you make the cake batter. (If you do this part overnight, put it in the refrigerator.)
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with 20-24 cupcake liners.
3. Mix oil, applesauce, sugar and brown sugar together until smooth.
4. Add eggs one at a time and mix well (do not over beat and do not beat on high.)
5. In a separate bowl, combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, salt, baking soda and baking powder.
6. Add half of the dry ingredients to the oil mixture and mix.
7. Add milk.
8. Add the remaining half of the dry ingredients.
9. Mix in pumpkin puree.
10.Fill cupcake liners ¾ full.
11. Take the filling out of the freezer and place small spoonfuls (between 1 ½ -2 teaspoons) on the top of each unbaked cupcake. Slightly swirl into the batter.
12. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until and inserted knife comes out with no orange batter on it. The cream cheese will leave a little white on the knife, but that is normal.
13. Buttercream: Beat cream cheese and butter for 3-4 minutes. Scrape the bowl as necessary. Slowly add powdered sugar until combined. Add vanilla extract and cinnamon. Use milk to thin out the buttercream if needed.
14. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Top with cinnamon sugar or whatever you have on hand.
Gorgeous cupcakes, as usual. And complete with my favorite ingredient – cream cheese!
I'm not a pumpkin pie fan, but I like pumpkin bread. Regardless, I would try these because they are so beautiful! I shared your link on my Friday Favorites.
Three of my favorite things in one cupcake…awesome!
I went to make a pumpkin torte for a party tonight and I didn't have enough eggs…. Your Cup of Cake to the rescue….. this recipe has similar flavors to my pumpkin torte, but less eggs.
Do you think there would be a variation for baking at high altitude?
The Price of Beauty- I am at high altitude, and they turned out fine. If you are worries, add an extra 1/4 cup of flour. good luck!
wow, great recipe. made these for the Thanksgiving potluck at work tomorrow. I'm sure they will be a hit. Wendi, Yuma,AZ
I tried this recipe and my buttercream turned out very running, and not as fluffy as the picture. I followed the recipe exactly but didn't add any milkt to the buttercream. Anyone know what I am doing wrong?
Depending on what brand you use for powdered sugar, it will effect how much you need to put in. So keep adding powdered sugar until you reach the right consistency. On a side note, make sure you NEVER let your butter melt. Even if you let it melt and then re-harden, it changes it on the molecular level.
I made these for Thanksgiving also after a friend made them for Halloween! What tip did you use?!
Tip 1M, Happy Thanksgiving!
I made these for my Christmas potluck yesterday. Rave reviews! I am now the official desert-bringer in the office!
WHy can’t I put this in my recipe box?
Hi ~ How many cupcakes does this recipe make? I need at least 16. Thanx!
It makes around 24!
I made these earlier this week. They were absolutely amazing!
When I made mine I let them cool on a wire rack, like normal, and they all fell and shrank in their liners :'( They taste great but what can I do about the shrinking?
Can I add more pumpkin puree in place of the applesauce? I don’t have any applesauce on hand
You can add oil in place of applesauce!
Can I make these in advance and how do I store them? Fridge or Room temperature?
Thank you!
Do they have to be kept in the refrigerator if you are not going to eat them until the next day?
I made these for Thanksgiving at my house and they disappeared very quickly. So delicious and moist! We made them without the icing though, as they were sweet enough without it.
I want to use the cheesecake filling in your carrot cheesecake cupcakes. How do you think that would turn out?
Delicious idea!
These were delicious, thank you for sharing your recipe!
I made these! the flavor is amazing but they are super sticky and heavy? Did anyone else experience this? half my cupcake is stinking to the wrapper…never experienced that before!
I just made 4 dozen of these last night, I added extra pumpkin pie spice in the cake and in the icing. They were incredible!!
Do these need to be refrigerated if they will not be eaten right away?
Linda, I had the same thing happen when I made these! I was hoping someone had commented on here as to how to fix that, but no such luck 🙁
Hello there, You’ve done a great job. I’ll definitely digg it and personally recommend to my friends.
I am confident they’ll be benefited from this web site.
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My cupcakes did not rise and were very dough like inside.