Vanilla Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream
This post may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
These Vanilla Pumpkin Cupcakes are ridiculously easy to throw together. Packed with favorite fall flavors and topped with sweet cinnamon buttercream, it’s hands down a favorite dessert for the season.
Pumpkin season is here and our Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal, Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, Smashing Pumpkin Cocktail, and Pumpkin Pancakes are some of the most popular pumpkin recipes on this site. Along with Pumpkin Fluff and Layered Walnut Pumpkin Pie my personal favorites. But if we’re being honest I love them all!
Table of Contents
Easy Vanilla Pumpkin Cupcakes
Can you believe that fall is almost here? Soon we’ll be working on our Thanksgiving meal plan.
If you know me, you know my love affair with all things pumpkin! I’ve made this pumpkin cupcake recipe so many times it’s basically become a fall tradition. As soon as those first hints of autumn are in the air, I start getting requests for these tasty cupcakes!
What I love is that they are made with cake mix and instant pudding mix. A little secret that makes life so much easier! I love doctoring cake mixes and this one is definitely a favorite.
Several years ago I noticed JELL-O Instant Pumpkin Spice Pudding Mix in the store and I just KNEW I had to make something with it!! – but not a pie. That’s when these Vanilla Pumpkin Cupcakes were born. They are a soft moist vanilla cupcake with just a hint of pumpkin and a swirl of Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting!
They turned out even better than I imagined and they’ve been making an appearance at our Thanksgiving table ever since……… right next to the pumpkin pie.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy here.
How To Make The Best Pumpkin Cupcakes
(full printable recipe at the end of this post)
These Vanilla Pumpkin Cupcakes feature a soft, moist vanilla cake with a hint of pumpkin, all topped with a rich Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting. A sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar on top makes them irresistible! If that sounds divine, just wait until you taste them—they’re even better!
What You’ll Need for Vanilla Pumpkin Cupcakes
- French Vanilla cake mix – this makes everything SO easy – most of your dry ingredients are all pre-measured when you use a cake mix!
- JELL-O Instant Pumpkin Spice pudding mix – Pudding mix adds extra moisture and structure to the cupcakes, and this is where the hint of pumpkin flavor comes from.
- sour cream – adds creamy moisture without thinning the batter
- eggs – room temp
- milk – room temp
- vanilla extract
- pumpkin pie spice
Pumpkin Cupcake Directions
- Preheat your oven to 350° F and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl using an electric mixer, mix all cupcake ingredients for one minute on low. Continue mixing batter for another minute on medium-high. Note, the batter will be very thick.
- Divide the batter evenly into cupcake liners, filling each two-thirds full.
- Bake the cupcakes until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack before frosting.
Best Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting Recipe
Ditch the store-bought frosting and whip up a batch of this easy and delicious Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting! It’s the perfect fluffy crowning on pumpkin cupcakes, cakes, and more.
In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer blend a cup of butter and a cup of shortening until smooth. Add a pinch of salt, vanilla, and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Continue mixing until well blended.
Gradually add four cups of powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Eventually, you will have a very thick mixture.
On the highest speed of your mixer, slowly pour in heavy whipping cream until desired thickness. Continue beating on high speed until frosting is fluffy.
To Frost Pumpkin Cupcakes: Scoop the cinnamon buttercream into a large pastry bag fitted with an extra-large plain tip (I use a Wilton 1A tip), and pipe frosting on each cupcake. Garnish cupcakes with a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar.
Why you’ll love this Cinnamon Buttercream
- It’s an easy homemade frosting. Made in just 5 minutes with six ingredients, so simple and easy!
- It uses butter and shortening which makes the frosting more stable than all-butter buttercream frosting.
- Homemade is better than store-bought, so easy and delicious, you may never buy packaged icing again.
- Who doesn’t love a fluffy buttercream frosting? It’s light, fluffy, and has the perfect level of creamy sweetness.
How To Store Cupcakes
Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are frosted; keep at room temperature until ready to serve. They can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature (buttercream-frosted cupcakes can be left at room temperature but cupcakes with cream cheese or whipped cream topping are best stored in the refrigerator).
Freezing: Unfrosted cupcakes freeze better than frosted cupcakes, and frozen cake and cupcakes are easier to frost. Cover each completely cooled unfrosted cupcakes in two layers of plastic wrap, then place cupcakes in a large freezer bag or container. Properly stored, unfrosted cupcakes can be kept in the freezer for two to three months.
Defrost and Decorate: Remove the cupcakes from the freezer, unwrap (to prevent condensation) and allow them to defrost on the counter for an hour or two then frost as you normally would.
Featured Review:
I made these tonight and they were awesome! I had to change the recipe a bit though. I don’t know if the pumpkin pudding mix is not available in Canada but I couldn’t find it. I bought a vanilla box instead (considered butterscotch but wanted to play it a bit safe!), combined it with everything else, cut back on the wet ingredients (only did 1/4 cup milk, 3 eggs, 1/2 cup of sour cream), and upped the pumpkin spice from 1/4 teaspoon to 3/4 teaspoon. I then added 1.5 cups of pure pumpkin (from a can) and voila.. DELICIOUS! Super moist! The buttercream icing recipe turned out great too. I love this recipe and will be adding it to my favs!
—Amanda Friedel
Like This Recipe?
I’d love to hear what you think! Leave a review below and let me know how you liked the recipe!
UPDATED October 2020 and August 2024. We spiffed up this post with more info and better pictures! No changes to the original recipe originally posted in Nov 2009.
Vanilla Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream
The perfect cupcakes for the season, a moist Vanilla Pumpkin Cupcake topped with Cinnamon Buttercream frosting.
Ingredients
Vanilla Pumpkin Cupcakes
- 1 box French Vanilla cake mix (I prefer Betty Crocker Super Moist French Vanilla
- 1 (3.4 ounce) JELL-O Instant Pumpkin Spice pudding mix
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup salted butter, softened
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup salted butter, softened
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
- cinnamon and sugar for topping
Instructions
To Make Vanilla Pumpkin Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line muffin pans with cupcakes liners.
- In a large bowl using an electric mixer, mix all cupcake ingredients, for one minute on low. Continue mixing batter for another minute on medium-high. Note, the batter will be very thick. Do not overmix!
- Divide the batter evenly into cupcake liners, filling each two-thirds full.
- Bake cupcakes for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool on wire rack before frosting.
To Make Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting
- In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, blend butter and shortening until smooth. Add a pinch of salt, vanilla, and cinnamon. Continue mixing until well blended. Gradually add powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Eventually, you will have a very thick mixture.
- On the highest speed of your mixer, continue mixing while slowly pour in the heavy whipping cream.
- Continue beating on high speed until frosting is fluffy.
Frost cooled cupcakes with buttercream and garnish with cinnamon and sugar.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
-
Kraft Jell-O Pumpkin Spice Flavor Instant Pudding and Pie Filling -
Duncan Hines Signature French Vanilla Cake
-
KitchenAid Hand Mixer
-
KitchenAid 7-Quart Pro Stand Mixer
-
Brown Glassine Cupcake Liners
-
Nonstick 12-Cup Regular Muffin Pan (2)
-
Cooling Racks
-
1M Open Star Piping Tip
-
Wilton Disposable 16-Inch Decorating Bags
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 454Total Fat: 29gSaturated Fat: 16gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 86mgSodium: 378mgCarbohydrates: 48gFiber: 1gSugar: 37gProtein: 3g
Nutrition information is estimated based on the ingredients and cooking instructions as described in each recipe and is intended to be used for informational purposes only. Please note that nutrition details may vary based on methods of preparation, origin, and freshness of ingredients used.
Hi there, I'm Cheryl!
As a wife, mom, and caffeine enthusiast, my journey has taken me from bustling mornings with my family to sharing delicious recipes, home care tips, and heartfelt decorating insights with wonderful readers like you. My love for baking, photography, and tidiness shines through every post I craft. Dive into my world and discover the art of homemaking, one tidy moment at a time. Read more...
Tidymom is a participant in the amazon services llc associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Please respect my work, recipes and photographs. If you do use a recipe in your own writing, please give proper credit and link back to the original post.
These look incredible!!! I never would have thought of using a Jello packet for flavoring!
What tip do you use for the frosting? Yours always look so perfect!
Oh my! I haven't seen that pudding yet! I'm gonna look for it today! Thanks so much for joining in the party at Cupcake Tuesday!
~Liz
These look divine and I am so going to put them on my list!
WOW – they look perfect! Almost too perfect to eat!! ;o) Almost!
ps – please put me on the waiting list to be one of your taste-testers! LOL
All I have to say is YUMM!!! I will look today for the pudding. They sound amazing. 🙂
Kay, just so you know, it was on an endcap display at our store, NOT with the rest of the pudding and jello- I looked for it for weeks before I suddenly found it one day!
~TidyMom
Those sound delicious! Definitely bookmarked that recipe!
I dont even like pumpkin, but I would have to try one of those.
Looks scrumptious!
My mouth was watering before I even clicked over to your blog. You had me at the title. I am copying this recipe for sure! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
TidyMom!
When I saw those perfectly iced cupcakes I had to pop over here…even tho I need to be OFF of this computer and on to duties and errands and workouts!
Those cupcakes look like they are out of a magazine!
Maybe one day I will have the gift of producing such baked beauty!
Just lovely!
XXOOXX
I saw pumpkin on my dashboard and had to come right over. YUM
Your cupcakes look wonderful! And I bet taste even better! I've got to see if my local Publix has that pudding. Yours is the 2nd blog in two days that has featured it in a recipe.
Btw, I blogged about your upside down apple pie. It was very good. Thanks for sharing.
~ingrid
Your cupcakes look wonderful! And I bet taste even better! I've got to see if my local Publix has that pudding. Yours is the 2nd blog in two days that has featured it in a recipe.
Btw, I blogged about your upside down apple pie. It was very good. Thanks for sharing.
~ingrid
Seriously, how do you stay so skinny? I think I've gained 5 lbs by reading your blog this past week! Lol! These look delish, especially the frosting. Yum!
Those look and sound super yummy!
Too bad I can't get any of the mixes…But I think I'll dream about them tonight 🙂
oh, man. yum.
Your cupcakes sound delicious! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Those look picture perfect! And YUMMY!
These look yummy! You have been baking a lot lately!
I love all the ingredients in this WONDERFUL!!! cupcake and BEST!!! of all the frosting.
Geri
OMG I wish I had seen these earlier. I bet those are delicious! Might have to bake those once the pumpkin pie disappears!
Oh wow!! These sounds PERFECT! I want to try a bite right now. Thank you! I'm trying these asap.
I love pumpkin too and these sound fabulous. I can't wait to try them out. I'll have to add the jello pudding to my shopping list.
These look soooo yummy! I just stocked up on my pumpkin supplies yesterday. Can’t wait to try these. 🙂
These are one of my most FAVORITE cupcakes I’ve made!! The cinnamon and sugar butter cream really tops them off!
I too LOVE pumpkin…and cinnamon….and anything cupcake ( I just made 200 cupcakes for my daughters wedding…come check them out if you like)
ooh…I so hope I can buy that flavour of Jello pudding here in Canada…I’m going to search it out and make these for sure…thank you Tidy Mom!!
Cheers:)
Debbie
I totally made these today! You were right on the batter, it was so wonderfully thick and smelled amazing! The only thing I’ll need to do next time is tap the pan a little, some of them had a little pocket of air on the bottom where the batter didn’t spread well before it baked! I made lemon-chocolate frosting from them because that’s all I had and they are amazing!
PS I almost had a heart attack when I couldn’t find the pumpkin mix, thankfully, it was in the holiday display rack and not on the shelf with the regular puddings.
I bought this pudding last month hoping to find a recipe with it and here you are!!! Have you made these with other flavors of cake mix? I don’t have the french vanilla and am wondering if yellow would still bring out the flavor. What do you think? Maybe if I added some vanilla to the mix? Thanks for sharing!
I wanted you to know I made these today and they were a HUGE hit with everyone! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
PS- my cupcakes “fell”, too- not sure why but I’m going to research and see if I can find out why. It did force me to use a bit more frosting. Also, these cupcakes were very large. I think next time (which will be very soon) I will make about 30.
Is their anything I can use as a substitute for the pumpkin spice pudding? I cannot find it anywhere. I went to several different grocery stores with no luck, I even tried looking at the seasonal items.
repinned, Cheryl. Just saw these via Pinterest….not really pumpkin season per se but oh my, it just might be anyway 🙂
How would you make these without the jello mix? I’m a beginner baker and love anything and everything pumpkin!
Do you mean the pudding mix? I’m sorry, but the pudding mix is what gives the pumpkin flavor.
Hey I couldn’t find the pumpkin jello mix so I did the following; I bough a vanilla box instead (considered butterscotch but wanted to play it a bit safe!), combined it with everything else, cut back on the wet ingredients (only did 1/2 cup milk, 3 eggs, 1/2 cup of sour cream) and upped the pumpkin spice from 1/4 tsp to 3/4 tsps. I then added 1.5 cups of pure pumpkin (from a can) and voila.. DELICIOUS! They didn’t turn out as orange as in the picture but still REALLY good! Hope that helps!
I made these tonight and they were awesome! I had to change the recipe a bit though. I dont know if the pumpkin pudding mix is not available in Canada but I couldn’t find it. I bough a vanilla box instead (considered butterscotch but wanted to play it a bit safe!), combined it with everything else, cut back on the wet ingredients (only did 1/4 cup milk, 3 eggs, 1/2 cup of sour cream) and upped the pumpkin spice from 1/4 tsp to 3/4 tsps. I then added 1.5 cups of pure pumpkin (from a can) and voila.. DELICIOUS! Super moist! Not as “orange” as the picture above but yummu regardless! The buttercream icing recipe turned out great too but it doesn’t have the nice “tan” tinge that the picture does.. did you color the icing a bit? Either way, I love this recipe and will be adding it to my favs! Thanks!!!
Sorry, I mean I added 1/4 cup of milk! (Not 1/2 cup!)
I edited your “recipe” to say 1/4 cup milk.
Thanks for sharing your spin – I know some can’t find this pudding mix!!
oh, and no, I didn’t use any coloring.
Made these cupcakes and they were delicious!! The only issue I had was that the tops kind of sunk in after they cooled, any thoughts on why that happened? Maybe I didn’t cook long enough?
if you look at my recipe, I noted that I had the same problem
OK….cardinal rule of cupcake making is they should have nice round tops….and of course they have to taste great! But why would you post a recipe that “sinks” your tops? I would never pass on to someone a recipe that isn’t perfect or absolutely fool proof. My personal opinion is to go back to the drawing board and if you love the recipe, perfect it then re-post. My cupcakes tasted great but they looked awful and I was too embarrassed to serve them to my wife’s party guest. Extra frosting to cover up mistakes like that are not cool. Sorry.
These were some of the best tasting cupcakes I’ve ever made and I’ve made them on several occasions and always get rave reviews and people asking for the recipe.
The sinkage I get is very minimal and it’s never seen with the frosting on the top – no one has ever made a single comment while eating them, other than how delicious they were.
A few tips you can try next time if you are concerned about them sinking:
Don’t over mix the batter. Mix batter just enough so that all the ingredients are well-incorporated.
Only Fill each cupcake cup approximately three-quarters full with cupcake batter.
If batter is too thick to drop from the spoon, add just a little water.
Try baking at a lower temp, for a little bit longer time. I always bake cupcakes at 350 for about 20-23 mins. You could try these at 325 for about 25 mins.
Only open your oven only when your cupcakes are fully baked. Opening before they have finished baking may cause your cupcakes to deflate
Sorry yours didn’t turn out looking the way you had hoped. – Mine have always turned out looking beautiful when frosted.
To Donny G,
“I would never pass on to someone a recipe that isn’t perfect or absolutely fool proof ”
Really?!?!?? Aren’t you just a ray of sunshine. What at totally jerky reply! Couldn’t serve them because they were just too awful?!?!? Life is too short to get so upset over cupcakes that didn’t end up rising perfectly.
TidyMom, I made these last night and they are the BOMB!! Question though, I had lots of left over icing, I put it in the fridge. Will it keep in the fridge? how long?
lol thanks Connie.
I think the frosting should keep about a week in the fridge.
Hi there! I am so excited to try your recipe! I just had a quick question about how many cupcakes this would make? From the ingredients, I would guess about 2 dozen, but wanted to check first! Thank you for your time!!
yes, 24 cupcakes
Thank you for this delicious recipe! I made them for work and they were a hit! I did add a couple things: extra pumpkin pie spice and egg nog (because my batter turned out super thick and I don’t think my cheap mixer would have taken it!) to the batter and lots of pumpkin pie spice to the frosting.
Your idea of using the pudding mix is superb! I am definitely going to be checking out some of your other recipes!!
This buttercream is AMAZING!! I opted to use all real butter (no shortening because I swear I can tell the difference!!)
I also could not find the pumpkin instant pudding. Instead I used a box of french vanilla instant pudding and 2 tsp pumpkin spice.
Thanks for this great recipe, I can’t wait to share them at work tomorrow!!
I wanted to try these for Thanksgiving. Do you think a cream cheese frosting would work with this cupcake recipe?
Hi, I made these tonight and was so excited when I started out. I followed the recipe to a T but for some reason my cupcakes were burned on the bottom and sides and undercooked in the middle. Don’t know why or what happened. I might try these another day on a lower temp and see what happens?
Oh I’m so sorry – that sounds like an issue with your oven 🙁
Hello! I make cupcakes on the side and this is definitely one of the favorites!! The pudding mix can be bought on Amazon in groups of 4 or 24.
Made these cupcakes and everyone raved about them! Mine sank too…. Looked awesome baking with nice round tops, but when they cooled they sank :(. I did use the butterscotch pudding mix and I feel it was a good substitute…..and that frosting!!! Yum!!! Thought that maybe the pudding mix is a little heavy and would cause them to sink? Thought of substituting the pudding for canned pumpkin next time….I will definitely make these again!!
Like many of the other posters, I have yet to find the pumpkin flavored pudding mix.
We found it at Walmart.
My cupcakes definitely sunk too 🙁
I swapped sour cream for plain Chobani Greek Yogurt which is better for you then sour cream. Once I pipe some frosting on them it should be fine. But they REALLY sank…. Perhaps these need some baking powder to prevent that?
Can u be more clear about the butter? So in the actual cake mix are u talking about margarine? Please specify as u did in the frosting, U noted real butter! Thanks!
So, I know this post is old… but I just made 300 of these for my friends wedding. I had my first batch sink down. I didn’t spray the inside of my liners with PAM during the first batch, but did for the rest of them. The batches that were sprayed were the ones that stayed perfect and didn’t sink. I was desperately hoping to find a way to make these delicious cupcakes look as good as they taste. Simple fix! Hopefully it works for others.
thanks so much for your results!!! these are one of my favorites!!
Can I substitute gluten free cake mix?
I’m sorry, I don’t have any experience with that, but let us know how it turns out if you try!!
I made these last night – used a caramel pudding but left all else the same. Delicious!!!! The sinking was minimal and did not affect any part of the taste. The cake has a wonderful texture and is delicious. No one could believe it started with cake mix. (My kids are picky usually about that.) The frosting is amazing. Definitely a winner and I like the idea of trying some other pudding flavors (thought about banana…)
oh I love the idea of using caramel pudding mix!!!
Fantastic. Can’t wait to try this !
When you talk about shortening for the frosting, do you mean margarine or something like Crisco?
Crisco – margarine contains water and has a lower fat content than shortening.
Shortening makes for a more stable frosting – but if you’d like butter and shortening can be used interchangeably in baked goods and can be used as a one-to-one swap.