Cinnamon Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spice-Cream Cheese Frosting
Fall cupcake recipe redo! Moist cinnamon cupcakes sit beneath a large kiss of pumpkin cream cheese frosting, spiced with more cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Dusted with cinnamon-sugar on top, cinnamon cupcakes with pumpkin spice-cream cheese frosting are as pretty as they are delicious!
Looking for a new fall cupcake idea? Cinnamon cupcakes with pumpkin spice-cream cheese frosting are a fun deviation from the classic fall combination of pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. The cupcake base is full of cinnamon and tastes like a snickerdoodle cookie in cupcake form. The creamy pumpkin cream cheese frosting is flavored with warming spices like nutmeg, cloves and more cinnamon!
In preparing for a different sort of Halloween this year (read: Covid 2020), my daughters brainstormed some treat ideas to replace the standard trick-or-treating tradition. There were pleas for these candied apples, from a Pioneer Woman cooking show my kids watched with me last Thanksgiving. Although beautiful, we’re not big white chocolate fans around here (OK, I’m not). I also don’t know what’s really in those “chocolate discs”. After settling on cupcakes, my 6 and 8-year-old daughters dreamed up this combo of cinnamon cupcakes and pumpkin frosting. And, guess what? They’re…dreamy!
I’m not sure there’s anything better than going door to door, collecting handfuls of candy, so I realize what I’m up against. But, these cinnamon cupcakes with pumpkin spice cream cheese frosting coupled with the promise of endless movies at home may be a decent consolation.
cinnamon cupcake ingredients
- Cake flour and all-purpose flour – The combination of the two flours gives them both structure from the all-purpose flour with a lightness from the cake flour.
- Baking powder – The leavening agent to help the cupcakes rise
- Salt – Adds flavor and balances the sweetness
- Cinnamon – A whole tablespoon! Yum!
- Unsalted Butter – Gives these cupcakes flavor and richness
- Eggs – Adds richness
- Vanilla extract – The combination of the cinnamon and vanilla is absolutely delicious.
- Whole milk – Milk constitutes the liquid of the recipe
How to make cinnamon cupcakes
Get Ready
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit and place oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. Line 2 muffin tins with paper cups.
- Stir both flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl with a whisk until thoroughly combined.
Make Cinnamon Cupcake Batter
- Beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed using a paddle attachment, until creamy and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping sides of the bowl in between. Beat in vanilla extract.
- Alternate adding flour mixture and milk, starting with 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half of the milk, followed by the second third of the flour, the last of the milk, and, finally, the remaining flour mixture and beating until combined.
Bake Cupcakes
- Divide batter evenly among 24 cupcakes, filling 2/3 of the way. I use an ice cream scoop to guage the amount in each cup.
- Bake cupcakes for about 18-22 minutes, rotating two pans halfway through, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Transfer muffin pans to cooling rack. Fully cool cupcakes before frosting.
Pumpkin Spice-Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients
- Cream cheese – Gives the frosting that coveted tang. It must be at room temperature!
- Butter – Room temperature here, as well. Butter adds flavor and richness to the frosting.
- Pumpkin puree – Adds the perfect amount of pumpkin essence. Make sure to add unsweetened pumpkin puree (no pumpkin pie filling).
- Powdered sugar
- Cinnamon, nutmeg, & ground cloves – Classic warming spices up the pumpkin punch!
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
- Cinnamon-sugar – For dusting on top to finish the cupcakes
How to make Pumpkin Spice-Cream Cheese Frosting
- On medium-high speed, using a whisk attachment, beat room-temperature butter, room-temp. cream cheese, and pumpkin purée until creamy and well combined.
- Add sifted powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt and vanilla and continue mixing until fluffy and fully combined. At this point the frosting can be refrigerated for about 20 minutes if you would like it to be firmer for frosting.
- Set piping bag with tip into a tall glass and open bag fully. Use a rubber spatula to fill the piping bag about 2/3 of the way full. Pipe cupcakes and refill bag as needed, until all cupcakes are frosted. I used an 808 Ateco tip. Or, you can definitely use a butter knife as well. Sprinkle cinnamon cupcake tops with cinnamon-sugar.
Cinnamon Cupcakes with Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Cinnamon Cupcakes
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 4 eggs at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk
Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1/2 cup canned pumpkin unsweetened (no pumpkin pie filling)
- 3 cups powdered sugar sifted to remove lumps
- 1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp salt
- cinnamon-sugar for dusting on top
Instructions
Cinnamon Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and place oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. Line 2 muffin tins with paper cups.
- Stir both flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl with a whisk until thoroughly combined.
- Beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed using a paddle attachment, until creamy and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping sides of the bowl in between. Beat in vanilla extract.
- Alternate adding flour mixture and milk, starting with 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half of the milk, followed by the second third of the flour, the last of the milk, and, finally, the remaining flour mixture and beating until combined.
- Divide batter evenly among 24 cupcakes, filling 2/3 of the way. I use an ice cream scoop to guage the amount in each cup.
- Bake cupcakes for about 18-22 minutes, rotating halfway through, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Transfer muffin pans to cooling rack. Fully cool cupcakes before frosting.
Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Frosting
- On medium-high speed, using a whisk attachment, whisk butter, cream cheese, and pumpkin until creamy and well combined.
- Add sifted powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt and vanilla and continue mixing until fluffy and fully combined. At this point the frosting can be refrigerated for about 20 minutes if you would like it to be firmer for frosting.
- Set piping bag with tip into a tall glass and open bag fully. Use a rubber spatula to fill the piping bag about 2/3 of the way full. Pipe cupcakes and refill bag as needed, until all cupcakes are frosted. I used an 808 Ateco tip. Or, you can definitely use a butter knife as well. Sprinkle tops with cinnamon-sugar.