These delicious pumpkin cupcakes with cake mix, pudding mix, and lots of spice are moist, flavorful, and absolutely delicious! Top with a cheesecake frosting and some sprinkles for the ultimate fall dessert!
Let’s jump right into pumpkin season with these yummy pumpkin recipes topped with a fluffy cheesecake frosting!
There’s not a lot better than a good cupcake, especially if you can get the perfect ratio of cupcake to frosting. I haven’t shared a lot of cupcake recipes so far, just some hot chocolate cupcakes and banana pudding cupcakes, but today you’re in for a real treat.
These pumpkin cupcakes start with a cake mix to make them easy but a few added ingredients to the cupcakes turn these into a real showstopper dessert.
The cupcakes are soft, moist, and flavorful. Top that with a super simple whipped frosting and both kids and adults will love these!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Easy recipe – like I mentioned above, these start with a cake mix then add just a few simple ingredients like canned pumpkin, milk, and eggs to the mix to turn them into something truly spectacular.
- Slight pumpkin flavor – some desserts (like these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies) have a lot of pumpkin flavor. These pumpkin cupcakes have a lot of flavor but it’s pumpkin combined with spice cake, which means the pumpkin isn’t super overpowering. They’re great for anyone who likes fall flavors but doesn’t necessarily want to be overwhelmed with pumpkin.
- Not too sweet – similar to these gingerbread cupcakes, these pumpkin cupcakes aren’t too sweet. They’re flavorful but not super sugary and the frosting isn’t overly sweet either. That makes them a great dessert for any age!
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Spice Cake Mix – I typically use Betty Crocker spice cake mix but any kind works just fine!
- Pumpkin – make sure you’re using pure pumpkin or pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Milk – you want to ideally use whole milk in these for the richness but if you don’t have it, milk with a lower fat content is fine.
- Pumpkin spice pudding mix – if you can’t find the pumpkin spice kind, you can use vanilla pudding mix and just add an extra teaspoon of the pumpkin pie spice.
- Cheesecake pudding mix – if you can’t find cheesecake instant pudding mix, you can use a different kind as long as it is an instant pudding mix. It will change the flavor of the frosting, so I recommend either vanilla or chocolate.
If you’d like, you can also add up to a cup of mini chocolate chips to the batter, kind of like I did with these pumpkin blondies!
How to Make pumpkin cupcakes
If you’ve ever made cupcakes before, these are just going to be like those, maybe even easier since we’re starting with a cake mix!
And the frosting is super simple to make too!
Bake Cupcakes
First first things, preheat your oven to 375°F and place cupcake liners in two cupcake tins. This recipe typically makes between 20-24 cupcakes depending on how much batter you put in each cupcake tin.
Place all the cupcake ingredients in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer and beat 2-3 minutes, until well mixed. You want the batter to be nice and smooth without large chunks of pumpkin or dry patches of the cake mix or anything.
Using a cupcake scoop or a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop the batter into the cupcake liners.
Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and bake cupcakes for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick pushed into the center of the largest cupcake comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and allow the pumpkin cupcakes to cool for few minutes in the muffin tins before transferring the cupcakes to a cooling rack.
Make Frosting
While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare frosting by combining the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, and pudding mix in a stand mixer with a beater attachment.
Whip until the frosting is thick and fluffy, but don’t over mix.
Once cupcakes are completely cool, pipe frosting onto cupcakes using a piping bag and a piping tip. I like using a large star tip to get the pretty star frosting shape but any large tip will work.
Garnish with sprinkles or pumpkin pie spice and serve at room temperature.
Expert Tips
Change these cupcakes up with different frostings by swapping out the pudding in the frosting with different flavors, just make sure it’s an instant pudding.
Freeze cupcakes after completely cooling and before frosting. Place the cooled cupcakes inside a Ziploc bag or airtight container and freeze for up to three months. Remove from the freezer and allow to thaw at room temperature then frost once thawed.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days before either throwing away or freezing.
Recipe FAQs
These pumpkin cupcakes should be refrigerated because of the whipped cream frosting. If you do not use the whipped cream frosting, you do not need to refrigerate these cupcakes.
Whipped cheesecake frosting is delicious with pumpkin cupcakes. They would also be good with a cream cheese frosting, vanilla buttercream frosting, or even a chocolate frosting.
More Easy Pumpkin Desserts
If you like these pumpkin cupcakes, you’ll love these other pumpkin treats!
- Pumpkin crunch cake – another yummy pumpkin cake that starts with a cake mix and ends with something delicious!
- No bake pumpkin pie – a creamy and flavorful pumpkin pie that even people who don’t like pumpkin pie will like!
- Pumpkin delight – four layers of creamy dessert all on top of a graham cracker crust!
- Pumpkin crisp – soft and creamy pumpkin dessert topped with a crispy oat topping!
- Pumpkin cheesecake bars – pumpkin and cream cheese combined make these cheesecake bars delicious!
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cake Mix
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 1 box spice cake mix (unprepared)
- 1 3.5 oz box instant pumpkin spice pudding mix (unprepared)
- 1 cup 100% pumpkin puree
- 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 4 large eggs
- ½ cup whole milk
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
Frosting:
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ⅓ cup instant cheesecake pudding mix (unprepared)
- sprinkles and/or pumpkin pie spice (optional garnish)
Instructions
Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 375°F and place liners in a cupcake pan.
- Place all the cupcake ingredients in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer and beat 2-3 minutes, until well mixed.1 box spice cake mix, 1 3.5 oz box instant pumpkin spice pudding mix, 1 cup 100% pumpkin puree, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 4 large eggs, 1/2 cup whole milk, 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- Fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 full with batter.
- Reduce temperature to 350°F and bake cupcakes for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Frosting:
- Prepare frosting by combining heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, and pudding mix. Whip until it is thick and fluffy, but don't over mix.2 cups heavy whipping cream, 1/3 cup instant cheesecake pudding mix, 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- Once cupcakes are completely cool, pipe frosting onto cupcakes and garnish with sprinkles or pumpkin pie spice.sprinkles and/or pumpkin pie spice
Tips & Notes:
- Spice Cake Mix – I typically use Betty Crocker spice cake mix but any kind works just fine!
- Pumpkin – make sure you’re using pure pumpkin or pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Milk – you want to ideally use whole milk in these for the richness but if you don’t have it, milk with a lower fat content is fine.
- Pumpkin spice pudding mix – if you can’t find the pumpkin spice kind, you can use vanilla pudding mix and just add an extra teaspoon of the pumpkin pie spice.
- Cheesecake pudding mix – if you can’t find cheesecake instant pudding mix, you can use a different kind as long as it is an instant pudding mix. It will change the flavor of the frosting, so I recommend either vanilla or chocolate.
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