So as you can probably tell, we’re big into the pumpkin stuff right now!
And since I made a vegan pumpkin cake, I thought why not vegan pumpkin cupcakes too!
And so happy I did. These pumpkin cupcakes are super awesome, they’re easy, crazy delicious, and topped with a pumpkin spice frosting, a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice and crushed pecans!
The pairing of pecans with pumpkin things is a winner by the way.
Some nuts just go best with things, like walnuts go perfectly with banana bread muffins and carrot cake cupcakes, pecans go best with pumkin cupcakes and vegan pumpkin muffins.
Pumpkin spice frosting is too easy, it’s just a case of adding some pumpkin pie spice to your frosting. It creates a beautiful flavor and the velvety smooth frosting pipes beautifully onto these cupcakes.
These cupcakes rise very high! They’re beautifully tall. So for this reason I prefer to use muffin liners rather than cupcake liners because they tend to be higher on the sides and support these extra tall cupcakes best.
You can make your own pumpkin pie spice to use in this recipe! Or use a store-bought option, but if you have any difficulty buying it where you are, then just use our recipe for a homemade version.
Another tip would be to weigh your pumpkin purée and your flour for the best, most accurate results. You can use canned or fresh pumpkin purée. Canned is easiest, but if you want to use fresh pumpkin purée, that works great too!
To make your own you just bake peeled and cubed pumpkin in the oven for around 30 minutes at 350°F (I’ve also done it at 390°F). Don’t add any oil or spices, just bake it plain. When it’s soft and cooked, then either mash it with a potato masher or put it into the food processor and purée it. If it’s a little ‘wet’ then stand it in a strainer so any excess water can drain off.
You will love these gorgeous vegan pumpkin cupcakes, they are:
- Tall
- Rich
- Moist
- Pumpkin flavored
- Easy
- Topped with a pumpkin spice frosting
- Beautifully colorful
Keep them covered at room temperature where they will stay fresh for a few days or covered in the fridge where they will last for up to a week.
Thoughts on these beautiful vegan pumpkin cupcakes? Post them in the comments. Always love to hear from you. And please rate the recipe too, this is really so helpful.
And for more delicious vegan cupcakes check out:
And soooo many more! Just type ‘cupcakes’ into our search bar to see what we’ve got.
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Vegan Pumpkin Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the Pumpkin Cupcakes:
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour (250g)
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar (200g)
- ½ cup White Granulated Sugar (100g)
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Salt
- 3 and ½ tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1 Flax Egg 1 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed + 3 Tbsp Hot Water
- 1 and ½ cups Pumpkin Purée (337g)
- ¼ cup Canola Oil (60ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
For the Pumpkin Spice Frosting:
- ½ cup Vegan Butter (112g)
- 3 cups Powdered Sugar (360g)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1-2 Tbsp Soy Milk or other non-dairy milk
For Decorating:
- Pumpkin Pie Spice
- Crushed Pecans
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the brown and white sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice.
- Prepare your flax egg by mixing 1 Tbsp of ground flax seed meal with 3 Tbsp Hot Water and allowing to sit for a minute to become gloopy.
- Add the flax egg, pumpkin purée, oil, vanilla and vinegar to the mixing bowl and mix into a thick batter. Don't overmix.
- Line a cupcake tray with muffin liners. Divide the batter evenly between them.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.
- Transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before frosting.
- Prepare your frosting by adding the vegan butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and soy milk to the bowl of an electric mixer. Start on slow speed and gradually increase the speed until thick and smooth. When you reach the right consistency add in the pumpkin pie spice and mix in on slow until just mixed.
- Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes and decorate with pumpkin pie spice and crushed pecan nuts.
Soo Delish❤️
Thanks Bonnie!
Hello,
Everytime I make these cupcakes they are a big hit. My family is not vegan and they love them so much, they’ve asked me to make them into a cake for my nephews birthday. Is it possible to double this recipe and bake in 7 inch cake pans?
Hi Vanesa, so glad you enjoy the cupcakes! We have a cake recipe based on this, and it’s for 7-inch cake pans. Check out our vegan pumpkin cake. 🙂
Can’t wait to try this recipe. Just wondering, would a chia egg work instead?
Yes, a chia egg works in place of a flax egg. 🙂
I forgot to sift my flour, so mine turned out a bit dense, but they were still really good. I made them for Canadian Thanksgiving and it felt very ‘fall!’
So glad they were still good. Over-mixing is a common reason for baked goods being a bit dense as well.
Hi Alison,
I’m thinking of trying this recipe using a GF flour blend (Pamela’s). Any thoughts about how that would turn out? Would I need to cook them longer?
Thank you,
Becky
Hi Becky, I’m not familiar with that particular blend, but as long as it’s a blend it should usually work well as a swap. Baking time would be the same.