Halloween pumpkin cupcakes recipe

Our Halloween pumpkin cupcakes are under 400 calories per cake and only take 18 minutes to bake. 

If you’re looking for an adorably spooky and autumnal cupcake recipe to make this Halloween, these pumpkin flavoured cakes are perfect. We’ve used real pumpkin in the cake batter and flavoured the icing with vanilla but you could use some more maple syrup if you prefer. 

Ingredients

• 200g self-raising flour
• 1tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ginger
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ½ tsp allspice
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 300g caster sugar
• 170g pureed pumpkin
• 2 large eggs
• 125ml vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp maple syrup

For the frosting:

• 60g butter, softened
• 60g cream cheese, softened
• 240g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Green and orange food colourings
• Pretzel sticks, to use as stalks (optional) 

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180C (160C, Gas 4). Line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake cases.
2. Sift the flour with the ginger, nutmeg, allspice, baking powder, soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
3. In a separate large bowl mix together the sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil and maple syrup until evenly combined.
4. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the flour mixture.
5. Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, filling them around three quarters full. Bake for 18 minutes or until a cocktail stick inserted into the centre of each cake comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
6. For the cream cheese frosting: In a large, clean mixing bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth, gradually add the icing sugar and continue to cream until light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla until combined.
7. Place a scoop of the frosting into a separate bowl and colour with green food colouring.
8. Colour the remainder orange. Spread a layer onto each cupcake, then use a piping bag to pipe a pumpkin design around each cupcake.
9. Use the green to pipe the pumpkin leaves and finish with a pretzel stick as the stalk, if desired.

Top tips for making Halloween pumpkin cupcakes

If you don’t have any maple syrup you could opt for honey or golden syrup instead. For more tasty flavour substitutions and cupcake tips, continue reading below. 

If you’re fed up with your baking bowls not stacking nicely in your cupboard when you’re not using them, consider swapping to this 9-piece nest set from Joseph Joseph.

Joseph Joseph Nest 9 set - View at Amazon

The large mixing bowl is perfect for this recipe and the nesting sieve is useful too. Also included is a 5-piece cup measuring set which is great for American recipes but they can also be used to separate your ingredients when preparing to bake. 

We have lots more Halloween recipes including these simple but delicious pumpkin cupcakes. If you’d prefer something classic that’s perfect at any time of year, give our chocolate cupcakes recipe a read.