Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and Brown Sugar Pecans

I love pumpkin roll. My dad and I usually make it together around Thanksgiving, but since I won't be able to make it home for the holiday this year, I thought I’d give my own take on it a go instead and make some spiced pumpkin cupcakes topped with a nice (you could call it, healthy) portion of cream cheese frosting and some brown sugar pecans. These cupcakes have everything I love about pumpkin roll, but are much easier, and equally delicious.

This recipe makes 12-14 cupcakes. You can bake, cool frost the cupcakes, and then store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator and top with the pecans when you serve them. Or wait to frost/top them until you serve them!

See *Notes for more important tips/clarifications.

Backstory:

Pumpkin Roll is a two-person job, and my dad’s made it so many times that I pretty much consider him an expert on all things pumpkin roll - from him adding vanilla bean seeds in the cream cheese mixture, to handling the actual rolling of the pumpkin roll.

Pumpkin roll is one of my favorite desserts, probably ever. The light, moistness of the cake combined with cream cheese in every bite, I honestly could eat a whole roll myself, any time of year. These cupcakes have retain all the qualities that make pumpkin rolls so good: they’re just as moist, light, loaded with pumpkin pie spice, tons of cinnamon, and topped with cream cheese frosting. The brown sugar pecans are the finishing touch and work super well, giving the cupcakes a little bit more of a crunch, but are also completely optional.

And plus, with these cupcakes, you don’t have to worry about your pumpkin roll cracking after all the hard work you put into it!

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

• 1 cup of flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp allspice

• 1 cup pumpkin puree

• 2 eggs, at room temperature

• 1/2 cup white sugar

• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

• 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

• 1/4 cup milk + 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Sugared Pecans:

• 1/2 cup pecan halves, roughly chopped

• 2 tbsp light brown sugar, packed

• pinch of salt (maybe 1/8 tsp)

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• I used this recipe, cut in half

*Notes

• I added 1/2 tbsp vinegar to the milk before mixing it into the batter to make it into “buttermilk” to add some acid to the recipe that would react with the baking soda and help the cupcakes rise, since they’re already so moist.

• I used a combination of pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and allspice, but you can use whatever 2-3 teaspoon combination of the following spices you like: pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ground cloves, ginger.

• Since I put my cupcake tray inside another one and had a sheet tray setting on the oven rack below the cupcakes, mine took longer to bake. If you use this method, I’d recommend going close to full 30 mins, even if the toothpick comes out clean, but keep an eye on them to avoid overbaking.

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 12-cup cupcake tray with cupcake liners.

2. For the brown sugar pecan topping (I did this first because I knew I wanted to put some on a few of the cupcakes before they baked, but if you want to, you can put it on after the frosting and make the topping when the cupcakes are baking).

   1. Using a chef’s knife or food processor, roughly chop the pecans and mix them by hand or using a spoon, with the light brown sugar and a pinch of salt.

3. Make the batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and allspice until combined. In a separate small bowl, whisk the pumpkin puree, eggs, both sugars, oil, milk + cider vinegar, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold in with a rubber spatula (to avoid over mixing the batter) until no dry flour spots remain. The batter will be lumpy - that’s okay.

4. Using a large cookie scoop, scoop batter into prepared liners until 3/4 full. If you’d like, sprinkle some of the sugared pecans onto a few of the cupcakes.

5. Bake for 20-30 mins, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of one of the cupcakes comes out clean. I checked mine at 25 and left them in till about 27 - but I think they could have gone for the full 30. As a precaution (because I’ve had a few incidents of burnt cupcake bottom/sides) I double panned my cupcake tray and used a sheet tray on the rack below, which is why my, I think, my cupcakes took so long to bake. This is why I’m suggesting a longer time from for how long they could take to bake depending on your oven/method of baking.

6. While the cupcakes bake, make the frosting! I used this recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction, but feel free to use whatever cream cheese frosting recipe you like.

7. Let cupcakes cool and top with the cream cheese frosting + the brown sugar pecans. Enjoy!