Vegan Pumpkin Cupcakes
Soft and fluffy vegan pumpkin cupcakes with lots of pumpkin puree and warm spices! These cupcakes come together in one bowl and use simple ingredients, just like my vegan pumpkin cake.
Ingredients you’ll need
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Notes about the ingredients
Pumpkin puree, either canned (I used Libby’s) or homemade. If using homemade, try to make sure it’s the same consistency as above.
Brown sugar for depth of flavor and moisture, and granulated sugar to lighten the cupcakes. If you’re in the US, use organic sugar to make sure it’s vegan. Alternatively, you can use all brown sugar, all granulated sugar or even coconut sugar.
Dairy-free milk. I always like using soy milk in baking as its higher protein content makes cakes softer and more tender. However, any milk will work, such as oat milk or almond milk.
Pumpkin spice, either pre-made or a homemade blend of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Check the notes in the recipe box for quantities!
Making the cupcake batter
The batter is easy to make as you just mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients until combined! For the best fluffy pumpkin cupcakes, here are my top tips!
Measure the all purpose flour using a scale, or use the spoon and level method. Packing too much flour in your measuring cup will make this recipe (and any cake recipe) denser and drier.
Please avoid overmixing your batter as this will strengthen the gluten and contribute to a dense and chewy texture. The final batter doesn’t have to be completely smooth – as long as there aren’t any lumps of dry flour or streaks of pumpkin purée, you’re fine!
Mix in the pumpkin spice and raising agents first. After you mix your wet ingredients, stir in the spices and baking powder. This ensures they are evenly incorporated (no one likes chunks of baking powder in their cake). Then mix in the flour!
Baking the vegan pumpkin cupcakes
These vegan pumpkin cupcakes are straightforward to bake. However, I have a few tips:
Fill each cupcake liner by around two-thirds. I used a USA Pan muffin tin but not all muffin tins are the same. Your tin may have smaller or larger muffin cups so you can just eyeball the amount of batter in each.
Use an ice cream scoop to divide the cupcake batter as it’s easier than using spoons and less messy! If you don’t have one, of course, spoons will work :).
For slightly taller cupcakes, bake only 6 cupcakes at a time and space them apart in your muffin pan. This isn’t reflected in the below pictures, but you can see this technique in my vegan pumpkin chocolate chip muffins post.
Decorating the cupcakes
These cupcakes are lovely with my vegan cream cheese frosting. Alternatively, you can top them with:
- Vanilla buttercream. Try adding a dash of maple syrup for extra flavor, or lemon juice to mimic the tanginess of cream cheese!
- Dairy-free whipping cream
For aesthetic Fall vibes, you can also top your vegan pumpkin cupcakes with:
- My mini biscoff pumpkins or marzipan pumpkins
- A sprinkle of pumpkin spice or ground cinnamon
- Cinnamon sticks
- Pecans
- Fresh cranberries
- Pumpkin seeds
Customizing this recipe
This recipe will bake a little differently in larger pans as pumpkin is a heavy ingredient. For a full two-layer cake, see my vegan pumpkin cake recipe or for a one-layer round cake, see my vegan pumpkin coffee cake recipe. If you want to bake in a loaf pan, check out my vegan pumpkin bread. And my fluffy pumpkin spice donuts are baked in a donut pan!
Yes! You can add the following to the batter:
– chocolate chips
– chopped nuts, such as pecans or walnuts
Keep in mind that this will add more volume to the batter, so you may end up with more cupcakes!
If you want to use sweet potato instead of pumpkin, I recommend baking my vegan sweet potato cake in a muffin pan.
1. Peel and cut your pumpkin into cubes and steam it until soft. OR cut your whole pumpkin in half, remove the seeds and roast the pumpkin, side down, until the flesh is as soft as possible. Scoop out the flesh and discard the skin.
2. Use a food processor or stick blender to puree the pumpkin.
Don’t forget to check out my other vegan cupcakes and muffins!
More vegan pumpkin desserts
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Vegan Pumpkin Cupcakes
Ingredients
Wet ingredients for pumpkin cupcakes
- 1 cup (225g) pumpkin puree, canned or homemade (not pumpkin pie filling)
- ¾ cup (190g) dairy-free milk
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (95g) packed light brown sugar, granulated sugar or coconut sugar
- ⅓ cup (85g) neutral flavored oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dry ingredients for pumpkin cupcakes
- 1 ½ cups (190g) all-purpose plain flour, spooned and leveled or weighed (note 1)
- 2 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, (note 2 for homemade blend)
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt, optional
Cream cheese frosting and decorations (see note 3 for alternatives)
- ¾ cup (170g) vegan butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup (190g) vegan cream cheese, room temperature
- 3-4 cups (300g-400g) powdered sugar / icing sugar, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Biscoff pumpkins
- pumpkin pie spice, or ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. If you're using paper liners, spray or brush them with oil.
Make the pumpkin cupcakes:
- Add the wet ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until combined. Make sure you don't overmix the batter (some lumps are fine, as long as they aren't lumps of dry flour).
- Use an ice cream scoop or a spoon to divide the batter in your muffin pan. The batter should fill each cup by around two-thirds.
- Bake the cupcakes for 22-27 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick in the center of a cupcake and it comes out with no wet batter on it (a few moist crumbs are fine).
- Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for around 15 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.
Make the cream cheese frosting and decorating:
- Add the butter to a large bowl (if using an electric hand mixer) or bowl of a stand mixer (with the whisk or paddle attachment). Beat until light and fluffy. Add the vegan cream cheese and mix until just combined and there are more lumps (around 30 seconds).
- Add the sugar and beat on low speed until just combined. Increase to medium speed and beat just until the frosting firms up. Be careful to not mix the frosting too much as it can become soft again. Add more powdered sugar for a firmer frosting. Chill until needed.
- When the cupcakes have fully cooled, use a spatula or piping bag to frost the cupcakes. Dust with additional pumpkin spice and top with mini pumpkins, or as desired.
- Serve the cupcakes immediately. Store the unfrosted cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or store the frosted cupcakes in the fridge for up to 5 days. If freezing, store the unfrosted cupcakes in a freezer safe container for up to 1 month (store the frosting separately). Allow the cupcakes to come to room temperature before serving.
Notes
- To spoon and level flour, fluff up the flour in its container, use a spoon to add flour to your measuring cup, then level it off with a knife. I don’t recommend using your measuring cup to scoop flour out of your container as this will add too much flour to your cup which will make your cupcakes more dry and dense. Alternatively, use the grams measurements.
- For homemade pumpkin spice, use 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and a generous pinch of ground cloves. If you don’t have any nutmeg, ginger or cloves, use more cinnamon.
- Instead of cream cheese frosting, I recommend making a classic buttercream. Beat ¾ cup (170g) of room temperature vegan butter until fluffy. Add 2-4 cups (200-400g) powdered sugar and a dash of lemon juice, to taste, then beat until light and fluffy. The lemon flavor mimics the tanginess of the cream cheese.
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I made these cupcakes and they are sooooo good! Great recipe! Saved for future use again!
Hi Lyn, aw that’s lovely to hear! Thanks so much for your kind review 🙂
Easy to make with simple instructions. The cupcakes are light, fluffy and moist and just the right amount of sugar and spice. I’ve yet to decorate them but as the cupcakes are so good, i would imagine that the topping will be just as wholesome.
pumpkin as a sweet food is only just creeping onto the British menu but I think these will be a hit with my customers 🙂
Thank you Anthea!
Hi Tracy! I’m thrilled that you found the instructions easy to follow and enjoyed all aspects of the cupcakes! I’m also honoured that you would consider serving these to your customers. Thanks so much for your lovely feedback and taking the time to leave a comment 🙂
Hi, these muffins are great and super tasty!! I was just wondering if you maybe had an explanation as to why mine turned out a bit more dense and squishier instead of fluffy like yours.
Hi Lia, glad that you enjoyed these muffins! Sometimes cupcakes can end up a little denser than normal if you accidentally overmixed the batter, or may have overmeasured the flour (especially if you used measuring cups instead of grams). Sometimes I sift my flour beforehand, as it cuts down on some of the mixing time. I hope that helps and thanks so much for your feedback :).
Hi Anthea How do make the pumpkin puree? Do we make a puree of cooked yellow pumpkin or uncooked yellow pumpkin?
Hi Vatsala, I’ve listed some instructions for making pumpkin puree in my pumpkin bread post. Scroll to the section that says “How do I make pumpkin puree at home?” I used an orange colored pumpkin and pureed the cooked pumpkin flesh.
This turned out to be so delicious. I just used same quality of jaggery powder in lieu of Sugar…. I am trying your pumpkin bread today !! Thank you so much for this very healthy and delicious recipe.
Hi Mamta, I’m so thrilled that you enjoyed these and that they worked with jaggery too :). And I hope you enjoyed my pumpkin bread too. Thanks so much for the lovely feedback!
It’s a great and tasty recipe. I got a lot of compliments from my colleagues for them. They were all surprised that I didn’t buy them from a cafe 😀
Hi Kerstin, aw that’s so lovely to hear! I’m over the moon that you and your colleagues enjoyed these cupcakes! Thanks so much for the review :).