Dress up a boxed cake mix with the tastes of fall in these pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.
You’ll need:
- 1 box spice cake mix
- 1 box instant vanilla pudding mix
- 1/2 can pumpkin
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)
Mix all ingredients together except pecans, fold those in last. Fill paper cupcake liners 2/3 full. I use an ice cream scoop for a perfect measure every time. Bake according to box directions. Cool completely before frosting.
For the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese - room temperature
- 2 sticks of butter - room temperature
- 1 tablespoon good vanilla extract
- 5 cups of powdered sugar - approximately
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon (or to taste)
Cream ingredients together using a hand mixer or stand mixer.
Pipe frosting in a swirl pattern using a large pastry bag and a 1M tip. You can also cut the corner off a plastic sandwich bag that you’ve filled with the frosting and pipe the icing this way.
Sprinkle with finely chopped pecans if desired.
*Note: If you plan to frost these cupcakes with a knife instead of a piping bag, you can cut the frosting recipe in half.
