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Decorating a cupcake to resemble a charming little pumpkin is easier than you might think! Follow the steps below to make cupcakes that look like pumpkins. Whether you’re a seasoned baker or a kitchen novice, this creative cupcake design is a perfect way to infuse some fun into your fall dessert menus.
Fall Dessert Ideas
The fall season is always jam-packed with social events, many of which include some sort of food spread. From football game tailgates to fall fests and Halloween parties, there are always fun gatherings with arrays of yummy snacks.
Some of our favorite fall party food ideas include:
- Apple Cider Donuts
- Pumpkin Spice Everything (Snacks like pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin spice cookies and pumpkin spice donuts are all-the-rage in the fall!)
- Caramel Apples
- Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
- Halloween Snack Mix
- Hot Chocolate (We love setting up a hot chocolate bar for parties!)
- S’mores (Check out this idea for a DIY S’mores Station.)
- Cinnamon Roasted Almonds
- Pecan Pie
- Gingersnaps
- Homemade Popcorn (Try kettle corn or making your own flavored popcorn with seasonings like pumpkin spice, cinnamon sugar, or ranch seasoning!)
- Fall Fruit Platter
- Baked Goods
- Cheese and Crackers
These fall snacks celebrate the seasonal flavors and ingredients that make autumn such a delicious and comforting time of year!
Pumpkin Treats
Pumpkin and apple treats tend to top most fall themed menus. This makes a lot of sense because those crops are harvested in the fall.
Check out some of the other delicious pumpkin treat recipes that we have posted over the years:
- Pumpkin Themed Buttercream Frosting Board
- Easy Fall Pumpkin Dip Served in a Pumpkin
- Homemade Pumpkin Bread Recipe
- Cake Mix Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread Recipe
- Air Fryer Pumpkin Hand Pies
- Mason Jar Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
- Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte Recipe
How to Make Cupcakes that Look Like Pumpkins
Today’s addition to these pumpkin treats are a delicious pumpkin cupcake with cream cheese frosting. The icing will look like a pumpkin when you’re finished decorating them!
Supplies for Pumpkin Cupcakes
Gather the following supplies for decorating these cupcakes. (Find the ingredient lists for the cupcakes and icing in the recipe cards below.)
- Silicone Fall Baking Mold
- Piping bags (2)
- Piping tip #366
- Piping tip #5
- Pumpkin Orange food gel
- Leaf Green food gel
Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
Equipment
- muffin tray
- cupcake liners
- electric mixer
Ingredients
- 3/4 C unsalted butter softened
- 2.5 C white sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 15 oz pumpkin puree
- 2 1/3 C all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 C buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl. Mix with electric mixer until the batter is light and fluffy.
- Add one egg at a time, beating the mixture after each addition.
- Stir in the pumpkin puree.
- Add all of the dry ingredients to a second bowl. Whisk to combine the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and ginger.
- Divide DRY mixture into fourths. Divide buttermilk into fourths.
- Alternate adding 1/4 of dry ingredients and 1/4 buttermilk to the wet ingredients that you already mixed. Beat to combine after each addition.
- Line the muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- Fill each cup 3/4 full with batter.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees (or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean).
- Cool the cupcakes for several minutes in the pan, then remove the cupcakes and place them on a wire rack and let them cool completely.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
- electric mixer
- 2 piping bags
- 1 piping tip #366
- 1 piping tip #5
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 3 C powdered sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- pumpkin orange gel
- leaf green gel
Instructions
- Add cream cheese and butter to a large mixing bowl. Beat them together until the mixture becomes light and fluffy.
- Add the powered sugar slowly and then the vanilla extract. Beat until the frosting is creamy and smooth.
- Spoon the frosting into a medium bowl. Remove about 1 cup of frosting and place it in a small bowl.
- Mix a few drops of pumpkin orange food gel into the medium bowl of frosting.
- Add the orange frosting to a piping bag.
- Mix a few drops of leaf green food gel into the small bowl of frosting.
- Add the green frosting to the 2nd piping bag.
- Get the silicone baking mold and pipe a green stem into the middle of the pumpkin mold.
- Pipe orange frosting on top of the green stem, filling up the pumpkin cavity.
- Take a cupcake and turn it upside down. Place the cake part into the frosting, lightly pressing down to make sure the cake holds the frosting.
- Turn the mold over and pull it off the cupcake carefully.
- Add the #5 piping tip to the green piping bag to complete your pumpkin cupcake by drawing vines on top! Use frosting tip #366 to pipe on some leaves.
I hope you have fun with this cupcake decorating idea!
Make sure you browse the rest of our recipe collection while you’re here!
