If you love soft, moist pumpkin cupcakes, here's a new one to try. The secret ingredient is a small box of instant vanilla pudding mix. It gives the crumb an extra softness without making the cupcakes overly dense or cakey. As you can see, my pictures are pretty old and I need to make these again. But do pumpkin cupcakes really need pudding mix?
Why Add Instant Pudding Mix?
Obviously pumpkin add moisture, but if you want to try something a little different and see if people notice, give the pudding mix a try. It contains cornstarch and flavoring that help stabilize the batter, so the cupcakes bake up tall and tender. You'll notice the difference in texture, especially after a day or two when most cupcakes start to dry out.
The Flavor
They taste like pumpkin, cinnamon, and brown sugar, with just enough spice to enhance and not overpower the pumpkin flavor. The pudding adds a little vanilla flavor. If you want to experiment, you could try using white chocolate or butterscotch flavor.
Cream Cheese Frosting Upgrade
Instead of a heavy frosting, this version lightens up classic cream cheese frosting by folding in whipped cream. It's creamy, pipeable, and not overly sweet - the perfect match for a spiced cupcake base.
Recipe
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Pudding in the Mix
Ingredients
- 2 sticks sunsalted butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 can pumpkin (15 oz)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 box instant vanilla pudding mix (3.4 oz)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spices
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cup heavy cream cold
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 2 oz unsalted or salted butter softened
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice fresh
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper muffin liners.
- In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla and pumpkin puree.
- Mix the flour, pudding mix, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice together in a separate bowl, then gradually add to the pumpkin mixture stirring just until blended
- Pour the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes or until tops are golden and toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form and set aside. In a second bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and lemon juice until creamy. Stir the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. Frost the cupcakes.
Anna says
Thanks for reviewing the frosting, Jen! Fuzz and I love it too. I'm not sure I'd ever use any other cream cheese frosting after trying this. Oh, and glad the lime worked. I guess if you added a little more lime juice plus some zest you could have a lime flavored cream cheese frosting. That might not be bad, actually.
Jennifer says
I haven't made the cupcakes but I used the frosting recipe for my daughter's red velvet birthday cake tonight. So good! I had to sub in lime juice because I only had limes in hand. I was afraid it might taste too lime-y but it's perfect. I doubled the recipe and just put in the juice of one lime.
Martha in KS says
I like your idea of adding whipped cream to cream cheese frosting. I'll try it next time I make a cake.
Sue says
These look great. I love pumpkin breads/muffins and bars!
Darlene says
Anna, your cupcakes look outstanding!
Another good recipe for pumpkin cake/cupcakes/muffins is Paula Deen's Pumpkin Bars. I don't cut and serve them as bars, I just treat it like a 13x9 cake. They also taste great unfrosted and make 2 dozen regular size muffins or 4 dozen mini-muffins. When I send them to work or school, I just throw some chocolate chips in the batter and leave off the frosting. The batter is very moist, flavorful, and a big hit with kids and adults, alike.
Adam says
I suppose this is proof that there really is always room for J-E-L-L-O! 🙂
Sorry couldn't resist 🙂
Rodzilla says
I would have never known about the additions to cake mixes. I do love instant pudding as my main thickening agent. These look great.