The Story:
Halfway through September until Thanksgiving leftovers are finally finished off, crazy people like me find any excuse to practically live off pumpkin everything and anything! Pumpkin bread, pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin granola and pumpkin waffles and pancakes are all reasonable meals and snacks. But when November hits, pumpkin pie becomes a suitable lunch and a pumpkin shake is my dinner. No shame. Pumpkin season has arrived.
Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
Ingredients
Pumpkin Cake:
- 1 box yellow or white cake mix you can use Spice mix and omit spices
- 1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 15 oz. pumpkin puree
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 C. applesauce or oil
- 1/3 C. milk
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 6 Tbsp. butter melted
- 1/4 C. sugar
- 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
Cinnamon Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1/2 C. butter softened
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 C. powdered sugar
Extra cinnamon and sugar for decoration
Instructions
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1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners.
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2. Sift cake mix, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon into a bowl an set aside.
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3. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, eggs, applesauce, milk and vanilla extract.
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4. Stir in cake mix and spices.
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5. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 17-22 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
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6. Place your melted butter in a small bowl.
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7. Combine sugar and cinnamon in another small bowl.
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8. Use a pastry brush to brush melted butter on the tops of your cupcakes (they can be cooled or nearly cooled), then roll the tops of the cupcakes into your cinnamon-sugar to get that "snickerdoodle" look.
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9. Frosting: Beat butter and cream cheese. Add cinnamon and vanilla extract and slowly add in powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency. Add 1 Tbsp. milk if it becomes too thick.
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10. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and sprinkles extra cinnamon-sugar on top!
If you don’t have a pastry brush you can always use a paper towel or dip the cupcakes in the butter!
Cinnamon-sugary goodness
Mmm….
Cute striped greaseproof liners from Sweets & Treats
Some of Lizzy’s Favorite Cupcake Things:
Cupcake Pan: It has 24 wells and is a shorter pan so no more dark “rings” around your vanilla cupcakes!
Cupcake Scoop: I use either the Yellow or the Blue one! They work GREAT for cookies too!
Wilton 2D Piping Tip: Here’s a major trick with this tip, use a knife to spread the spokes apart just a little bit more so that you don’t get any clogs when piping!
I am just like you! I think just about every meal from now until the end of the year requires pumpkin in some sort of variation. Thanks for the recipe. Will be trying it this week 🙂
I made the recipe yesterday. It went smoothly and turned out great; I used spice cake mix. I made a cinnamon buttercream with a touch of maple on top instead of cream cheese.
I recently made pumpkin snickerdoodles and sandwiched them around white chocolate frosting. These are like the cupcake version, love it!
Hi Lizzy! So I made your snickerdoodle cupcakes recently, and I had the problem, because of buttering and dusting the cupcake tops in sugar, My frosting actually PLOPPED off of my cupcake when my dad tried to eat it. Any tips to help prevent that?? Has that happened to you???
Any help would be great!
You’re amazing!!!
Rachel <3
That’s never happened for me! Maybe you’re getting a lot more butter and cinnamon-sugar on yours, because mine just sort of coats it like a cinnamon doughnut, there’s no way for it to “plop” off. I know with the snickerdoodle muffins where you bake the cinnamon sugar on top of the muffins that can happen though.
Couldn’t you just put the cinnamon sugar mixture on top of the cupcake before you baked it and eliminate the butter?? They sound wonderful!!! Thanks
Di
Go ahead and give it a try!
I have to try this pumpkin cupcake recipe!
That cream cheese frosting looks so perfect with these cupcakes! I would love this flavor combination!
Hi Lizzie,
What size tip did you use?
It was a Wilton 4B tip!
Gorgeous cupcakes! And pumpkin and snickerdoodle definitely go hand in hand. Can’t wait to try this!
i looked on sweets and treats’ website and they have really cute and affordable stuff!!
♥ ♥ ♥ Pumpkin is my favorite to work with. Buttermilk okay for the milk?? Thanks.
Yup! LOVE using buttermilk in my cupcakes!
These look incredible! I can’t help but want to put pumpkin in everything now that it’s fall.
Beautiful cupcakes, perfect for fall!!
I used this recipe, but made whoopie pies instead, and they were crazy good! Love that your recipes are so versatile that they can be made into many “forms” of treats! Super delicious Ms. Lizzy!
Awesome!!!
Chocolate hazelnut pumpkin spice cupcakes sound almost as good as these…
Mmm… pair them with one of my nutella buttercreams!
Hi Lizzy
I’m wondering if I can use this cupcake recipe and make a cake with it instead of cupcakes.
Thanks in advance.
Yes, you can! Just adjust the baking time as needed!
These look so good!!!
I made these without the butter on top with cinnamon sugar and they were still great! The perfect Autumn cupcake
Just made these tonight and they are FABULOUS!! My four year old usually only likes the frosting on cupcakes, but he devoured the cupcake with just the cin. sugar topping on it like he’d never eaten before! 🙂 Love them…. I just love your site. I have not made anything from here that I haven’t gotten rave reviews on. ♥
Oh I LOVE hearing that! Thank you for your comment Samantha!
No, seriously, thank you!! 🙂 ♥ I’m known as the cupcake gal because of you.
I tried this recipe and noticed the liners stuck to the cake a lot more than other cakes… Has this happened to you as well? Do you think it could be from the added moisture from the pumpkin?
Probably from the pumpkin, though I haven’t had a problem with it.
A friend of mine wants this for her birthday, but would love to have it as a cake. How can I convert this to round cake pans?
Just adjust the baking time depending on the thickness of the cake! Bake until a knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean!
Hi Lizzy!
I made these the other day and they were very tasty, my family really enjoyed them. But I wasn’t able to pipe the frosting on, I had to spread it on as it was too thin to pipe. I put 5C of powdered sugar and it just wasn’t getting very stiff. I did let the cream cheese soften and I was wondering if that might have anything to do with it, as I now notice that the recipe doens’t call for it to be softened as the butter does?
Thanks!
I like to keep my butter a little cold sometimes, but it shouldn’t make that much of a difference. Are you using real butter? Margarine won’t stiffen up and most grocery stores will sell margarine making it look like real butter.
I used unsalted butter for this. The only thing I can think of was that my butter & cream cheese were too soft when I started. I guess I’ll have to try again! 🙂
Anything Snickerdoodle catches my attention immediately. Then add in your gorgeous photography and I am drooling all over my keyboard! I shared it in my Pumpkin Round Up on my blog today! 🙂 http://shariblogs.com/35-pumpkin-dessert-recipes/
These look fabulous! I’d love for you to join the Pinworthy Projects party! http://www.atkinsondrive.com/pinworthy-projects-link-party-12/
I may have missed it but about how many cupcakes does this recipe make?
Hi Lizzy, I’ve featured this cinnamon-sugar goodness on my blog, hoping that you don’t mind, but if you do, please contact me and I’ll remove it. All the best.
i pinned Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
Hi! Love your site! I was wondering if you have a favorite box mix brand?
I do! Pillsbury is always go favorite mix! Next would be betty crocker…
Lizzy,
If I wanted to make the frosting a buttercream… Cinnamon sugar… How could I do that?
If a frosting has butter in it, then it’s a buttercream, so it already is a buttercream! If you want to omit the cream cheese you can replace it with another 1/2 C. of soft butter!
Ok, I just didn’t want it to flop.. Figured omitting cream cheese would prevent that?
I shared the Pumpkin Snickerdoodles Cupcakes recipe on my FB page!
Thinking about making these this year…
Just curious how many “regular” sized cupcakes one recipe yields?
Thanks!
I get about 20 cupcakes!
i am going to make these for thanksgiving…how many cupcakes does it make? thanks so much!!
20-24!
Lizzy,
I Love Love Love your site and your book that I just got in the mail is absolutley the most beautiful cupcake book ever! I went straight to work on baking! I’m sure I’ll make every single one in the book. Good job. Can’t wait till the next one comes out. I do have a question for you. Where can I buy grease resistant cupcake liners? Is there a website? I have been on a couple of them but the liner don’t say grease resistant.
Thanks a million. Theresa
TheBakersKitchen.net and ShopSweetsandTreats.com are my two places. The first is where I buy basic colors in bulk and second is where I get more decorative ones!
Random, but…I made these a while back and everyone LOVED them. Definitely my favorite of yours so far. Also just pre-ordered your cake mix book on Amazon, I can’t wait! Congrats on everything you have achieved and good luck in the future!
Thanks! Can’t wait for the new book to come out!!!
Wow…these look fantastic! I can’t wait to make them.
Could u use the actually insides of the pumpkin to make desserts with?
You would need to use a pie pumpkin!
These Cupcake are so moist and the icing is just the right consistency!
Hi. Would I be able to make these using sweet potato instead of pumpkin? Maybe use nutmeg instead of pumpkin spice
You can use the pumpkin pie spice still if you want!
Thank you Lizzy
Can these be made ahead and frozen?
I am regular reader, how are you everybody? This post
posted at this site is genuinely good.
Have you ever tried to freeze them and frost them later? I’m making 4 dozen for an event at the end of next week and I’m wondering if they taste as good when they thaw. Thanks for the great recipe!!
I made these and they were FANTABULOUS! THEY WERE SO MOIST! I made sure to watch the bake time to make sure they did’t dry out. I ended up coring the center and making a small swirl as they are nice and sweet already. Less is more! Thank you for the wonderful recipe! It’s a keeper! Wish I could post a picture!
Thanks so much for coming back and telling me you loved them! Happy baking Donna!
This recipe works great! I’ve even used a gluten free yellow/white cake mix, and everyone loved them. I prefer the regular flour, but it’s nice to accommodate gluten free friends! This is probably my favorite cupcake recipe ever.