Pumpkin Dream Cupcakes with Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting.
These pumpkin dream cupcakes are fluffy, moist and perfectly spiced. Inspired by my pumpkin dream cake and topped with a delicious espresso cream cheese frosting. They’re actually a dream!
Fall is here! And I couldn’t be more excited!
What better way to celebrate the day than with a giant pumpkin cupcake? I’m here for it.
Okay, so here’s the deal. Over the last few years, tons of you have made my pumpkin sheet cake into cupcakes. Tons of you have asked about it, have tried it, have made amazing versions.Â
I wanted to have a space here on the blog for the cupcakes only – just so you could see them, in case you want cupcakes over sheet cake!Â
I know. Hard decisions. Cupcakes or sheet cake? Hmmm…
I love both for different reasons and it just depends on my mood, what I’m making said cake for, who wants the cupcakes, etc.Â
The best news is that you can turn the recipe into cupcakes and just like the title states, they are a DREAM.
A dream.
SO fluffy and flavorful, with a tender crumb. Absolutely delicious.
P.S. If you’ve made the pumpkin dream cake before, then you know that I don’t love my pumpkin overly spiced. Because of that, there is a minimal amount of spice in this recipe. Enough to taste it, but they aren’t overly spiced. If you love pumpkin spice, I advise adding more!Â
The cupcakes themselves are so wonderful that they really don’t even need frosting. I mean, I’m not a huge frosting person, so that may be why I can say that.Â
Unless it’s cream cheese frosting, which I would like to eat with a spoon. From a very large bowl.
I usually make a cinnamon cream cheese frosting for the sheet cake version, so I changed things up here. Using my espresso cream cheese frosting from my banana sheet cake was the best idea ever. So yes, these cupcakes are basically a mash up of those two delicious cake recipes that we all love so much.
Oh yes. It’s coffee cream cheese frosting. Tangy and rich and decadent with a hint of coffee in the best way possible. I use instant espresso powder and it works perfectly. In fact, I keep it on hand for this frosting alone.
I guess we could say that these cupcakes taste like a pumpkin spice latte?! Honestly, I think the cupcakes are waaaaay better than any PSL you can find. Trust me!
Pumpkin Dream Cupcakes
Pumpkin Dream Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
- 1 ¾ cups brown sugar
- ½ cup plain greek yogurt
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
espresso cream cheese frosting
- 1 (8 ounce) blocks cream cheese
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 to 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cupcake tin with liners.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Note: If you LOVE spice, feel free to add some extra spice in here (pumpkin! allspice! more cinnamon! - you can add another 1/2 to 1 teaspoon if you'd like) as this isn't overly spiced. I prefer less spice in my pumpkin.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, sugar, yogurt and oil. Once smooth and combined, whisk in each egg one at a time. Whisk in the vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing until combined and no large lumps remain.
- Fill the cupcake liners ¾ of the way full. Bake for 28 to 32 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.
- Cool the cupcakes completely. Frost with the coffee cream cheese frosting. Serve!
espresso cream cheese frosting
- Beat the cream cheese and butter together until creamy. Beat in the sugar and espresso powder until combined. Beat in the vanilla extract. Frost the cooled cupcakes! I like to keep the cupcakes in the fridge because of the cream cheese frosting - plus we love cold cake. But they are fine out at room temperature for a few hours!
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
That crumb though!
25 Comments on “Pumpkin Dream Cupcakes with Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting.”
I’d like to know how to make the muffins liners so pretty like you have in the photos.
these are the liners i used! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084ZJK276/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This looks so yummy! Can’t wait to try this. I have muffin liners just like the ones you used but I’m wondering how did you frost them in the liners like that without getting hem all over the paper? Any tips on that? I usually use the liners for muffins only and haven’t used frosting with them.
Also, can I use instant coffee instead of espresso powder? Thanks for the yummy recipe!
oh man, it is tricky! i just use a small spatula and kind of dollop it on. i don’t have any secret!! i think they are messier than they look – i probably only got one or two nice ones!
i haven’t tied the instant coffee but i know lots of people have used it for the banana cake recipe, so i think you can!
This is just rude for a diet!!! But hey we’re out of summer right? You are a geniusssss. Your espresso frosting is truly the stuff of MAGIC. Can’t wait to make :)
Double checking – does the icing use 1 or 2 blocks of cream cheese? I know the cinnamon cc icing has 2 blocks listed. Thanks! Can’t wait to make these!
Same question! Did you figure anything out?
I used 2!
Can’t wait to try these!!
Can I replace baked sweet potato, instead of pumpkin puree?
You describe these as “giant” cupcakes and, since the recipe doesn’t specify the pan size, do I use the tins for regular cupcakes (12 cupcakes per pan) or the larger tin (6 cupcakes per pan)?
the standard 12 pan!
Can I substitute fresh pumpkin, cooked and mashed here?
Holy cow, just make them already!! These are literally the best cupcakes I’ve ever made, and why exactly doesn’t all cream cheese frosting have espresso powder in it??!! Yes! These cupcakes are a mouthful of happiness. Like your favorite spice cake with a great latte. Thank you for the great recipe!
Question: I’m wanting to make the pumpkin dream cake with this espresso frosting. I was comparing the 2 recipes and noticed that the frosting recipe for the cake calls for 16 oz of cream cheese while this one is only 8 oz….but the butter and powdered sugar amounts are the same. Will this recipe with the 8 oz cover the 9×13 pan?
Thanks! I am so excited to try this!
Exceptional! Â I did add more spice.
Just made these, and modified the cupcake recipe to be both dairy and gluten free by using Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour and Kitehill Unsweetened Greek Style Plain Almondmilk Yogurt — they turned out great!!! Also substituted 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice for the 1/2 tsp nutmeg and the resulting flavor is great. So delicious and fluffy, didn’t even need the frosting!
Everybody LOVED these cupcakes. My niece said ‘whoever made up this frosting is heaven’. So THANK YOU for this recipe!Â
You had me at Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting! I put the frosting on chocolate zucchini muffins. It was a match of bliss! Thumbs-up from my family tasters!
Loved these! They came out perfectly. I made the cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Can’t wait to try espresso!
OMG!! Made these today and simply WOWED!! The best cupcakes I’ve ever made!! Heavenly fluffy and soft with full of autumn flavors. I will make my frosting less sweet next time though. Thank you So much for sharing this delicious recipe!
I just made these and they are amazing!!! I only baked though for 19min and they were perfect. I also found that they stuck a bit to the liners that I used so I gave them a squirt of cooking spray before filling. Used the original cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
Thank you for sharing! I added a bit more spice. They are as described. PERFECT! And I love your cookbook.. hope another is in the works! V~
Perfect texture and flavor!
These cupcakes are so moist and delicious and the espresso cream cheese frosting is the perfect topping. Â
I had to add more powder sugar to the frosting so I could pipe it on top of the cupcakes. Â I also found the cute cupcake liners on Amazon. Â