Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin Cupcakes

These Jack-O-Lantern pumpkin cupcakes are incredibly moist and easy to make. Ditch the candy this Halloween and serve the kiddos these delicious cupcakes instead.

If you love fun Halloween recipes, check out these mummy cookies and these mummy jalapeno poppers.

Yes, these Jack-O-Lantern cupcakes are super cute but they taste even better than they look! They’re packed with real pumpkin flavor and spice and are topped off with homemade cream cheese frosting.

Why You’ll Love These Cupcakes

• These are made from scratch but you may certainly use a cake mix instead.
• Super cute, spooky, and festive.
• Easy to make and decorate.
• Perfect for Halloween parties.

Ingredient Notes

• Ground Cinnamon – If you don’t have ground cinnamon on hand feel free to substitute it with pumpkin pie spice.
• Pumpkin Puree – Make sure you use canned pure pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie mix. Pumpkin pie is loaded with sugar and will alter the taste of the recipe.
• Food Coloring – You’ll need orange and black food coloring to color the cream cheese icing.
• Cream Cheese – Use softened full-fat cream cheese.
• Unsalted Butter – Softened at room temperature.
• Jelly Beans – You’ll need green jelly beans to decorate the cupcakes.

How To Make

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, ground cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the oil, sugar, room temperature eggs, pumpkin puree, and vanilla extract.
4. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture and mix until well combined. Don’t overmix.
5. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter evenly into your muffin tin and bake for 18-20 minutes or until done. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before decorating.
6. To make the cream cheese icing, mix the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, milk, and mix for 3-5 minutes.

How To Decorate

1. Remove about ¼ of the icing and place it into a separate small bowl. Color the icing in the large bowl orange and color the icing in the small bowl black. 
2. Place icings into icing bags. Cut a large opening on the orange icing and just a small opening on the black icing (small opening for black as it will be used for finer details).
3. Pipe orange icing in a flat circle on cooled cupcakes. Use black icing to pipe faces onto the jack-o-lanterns. 
4. Place a green jelly bean at the top of each cupcake to create the pumpkin’s stem. Enjoy!

Top Tips

• Don’t feel like decorating these? No problem, these cupcakes are so tasty they don’t even need to look pretty.
• Make sure you don’t overbake the cupcakes or overmix the cake batter otherwise they will dry out.
• It’s crucial that you use pure pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie mix. There is a difference.

How Many Cupcakes Does This Recipe Make?

This recipe makes about 15 cupcakes.

Storage

If sealed properly in an air-tight container these cupcakes can be frozen for up to 2 months. It’s important to wrap them well and store them in a sealed container so they don’t dry out. Bring the cupcakes back to room temperature before serving. 

More Recipes You Might Enjoy

• Oreo Cupcakes
• Red Velvet Cupcakes
• Banana Cupcakes
• Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Tried these Jack-O-Lantern pumpkin cupcakes? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. And consider following me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!