Pumpkin Dream Cupcakes with Expresso Cream Cheese Frosting

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Two years ago, you may recall, I made Pumpkin Dream Cake and last year I did a few updates with the recipe. I linked it above. The recipe came from Jessica Merchant’s widely successful How Sweet Eats blog. This year Jessica just came out with Pumpkin Dream Cupcakes with Expresso Cream Cheese Frosting. I made the cupcakes last weekend and they are a hit! The cupcakes are exactly the same recipe as the Pumpkin Dream Cake. The only change is the frosting. The Expresso Cream Cheese Frosting is so delicious, one could just eat it out of the bowl! Yes, it is that good!

Pumpkin Dream Cupcakes
Makes: 24 cupcakes 
Prep. Time: 30 min.
Cook Time: 30 min.
Cooling Time: 30 min.
Total Time: 1 he. 30 min.

Ingredients:
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (can use King Arthur gluten free flour)
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1-1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I used 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg.)
  • 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree 
  • 1-3/4 cups brown sugar (You can substitute Sweve brown sugar replacement.)
  • 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt 
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
Expresso Cream Cheese Frosting 
  • 1 (8 ounce) block cream cheese 
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter 
  • 2-1/2 cups powdered sugar (Swerve has a powdered sugar replacement.)
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons instant expresso powder (You can buy the King Arthur brand on Amazon.)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
Instructions:
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake tin with liners.
  2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Note from Jessica: If you love spice, feel free to add some extra spice in here (pumpkin, allspice, more cinnamon - you can add another 1/2 to 1 teaspoon, if you’d like) as this isn’t overly spiced. (Note: I added 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.)
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, sugar, yogurt and oil. Once smooth and combined, whisk in each egg one at a time. Whisk in the vanilla extract.
  4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing until combined and no large lumps remain.
  5. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for 28 to 32 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.
  6. Cool the cupcakes completely. Frost with coffee cream cheese frosting. Serve!
Expresso Cream Cheese Frosting 
  1. Beat the cream cheese and butter together until creamy. Beat in the sugar and espresso powder until combined. Beat in the vanilla extract. Frost the cooled cupcakes. Note from Jessica:  I like to keep the cupcakes in the refrigerator because of the cream cheese frosting. But they are fine out at room temperature for a few hours.

Don’t they look delicious? I froze half of my batch for a later time this month. As I stated earlier, the Expresso Cream Cheese Frosting is amazing. You could always use the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting from the Pumpkin Dream Cake recipe, which I linked in the first paragraph. Either way, Pumpkin Dream Cupcakes are a fantastic fall treat!

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