If you’ve been reading my blog for any time, you know my love affair with anything pumpkin. So when I spied Kraft’s Jello Instant Pumpkin Spice Pudding Mix I just KNEW I had to make something with it!! – not a pie, although they do have a yummy Triple Layer Pumpkin Spice Pie recipe on the Kraft website
I had visions of cupcakes! A soft moist vanilla cupcake with just a hint of pumpkin! And why not top it off with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting!……and hey, sprinkle a little cinnamon and sugar on top!!
Oh YUM!!! these cupcakes turned out even better than I had dreamed!?
I’m making another batch for thanksgiving!! What a great treat for the young, and not so young!
Grab up a few boxes of the Kraft Jello Pumpkin Spice Instant Pudding mix on Amazon or if you see it at your local grocer, it’s only available for a limited time!
Ingredients
- 1 Box Betty Crocker Super Moist French Vanilla cake mix
- 1 pkg. Jello Instant Pumpkin Spice pudding mix
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup softened butter
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1 cup real butter (softened)
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. In a large bowl mix all ingredients, batter will be very thick.
- Bake cupcakes 23 mins (test with toothpick)
- In a mixing bowl, blend butter and shortening until smooth. Add a pinch of salt, vanilla and cinnamon. Continue mixing until well blended. Gradually add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Eventually you will have a very thick gooey mixture. On the highest speed of your mixer, stream in the heavy whipping cream- pour nice and slow.
- Continue beating on high speed until frosting is fluffy.
- Sprinkle tops with cinnamon and C&H sugar!
Notes
*my first batch of cupcakes fell – not sure why because I don’t think they could have baked any longer – but they still tasted great and you couldn’t tell with the frosting on top!
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http://tidymom.net/2009/vanilla-pumpkin-cupcakes-w-cinnamon-buttercream/
ENJOY!
About TidyMom
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.