These MOIST gluten-free pumpkin cupcakes are bursting with pumpkin spice flavor and amazing CREAM CHEESE frosting! The light, tender crumb will make these your new fall favorite!
Looking for a great pumpkin cupcake recipe? You’re in the right place! Check out all of my tips for making delicious fall cupcakes.
Fall is in the air, which can only mean one thing. It’s time to bring out ALL the pumpkin desserts!
These gluten-free pumpkin cupcakes give you everything you want in a cupcake. They’re moist, but also have a light and tender crumb. They’re pumpkiny and bursting with plenty of warm spices.
Plus, they have the most AMAZING cream cheese frosting. After you try it, you’ll never want to eat pumpkin cupcakes any other way!
This recipe calls for a high-quality gluten-free flour blend and a combination of pumpkin, eggs, and oil to make the BEST fall cupcakes you’ve ever had.
Take them to your Halloween parties, fall dinners, or even bring them for Thanksgiving dinner. They’re sure to be a hit with the whole crowd!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Moist, light, and tender crumb
- Full of pumpkin spice flavor
- Perfect for fall
- Great for parties and family dinner
For more favorite gluten-free pumpkin recipes, try these gluten-free pumpkin muffins, gluten-free pumpkin bread, gluten-free pumpkin pancakes, gluten-free pumpkin cake and gluten-free pumpkin cookies.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Wet Ingredients
- Pumpkin: Be sure to use canned pumpkin for this recipe, not pumpkin pie filing! Canned pumpkin is pure pumpkin puree, while pumpkin pie filling has added pumpkin pie spice and sweetener.
- Sugar: I like to use Domino granulated white sugar for all of my baking.
- Oil: Any neutral-tasting oil will work for this recipe, such as vegetable oil or canola oil.
- Brown sugar: Any brown sugar will work for this recipe. It creates a sweet, molasses flavor that perfectly complements the pumpkin spice.
- Vanilla: Real vanilla extract is always ideal!
- Eggs: Use room-temperature, large eggs for this recipe.
For more pumpkin desserts, try these recipes for gluten-free pumpkin roll, gluten-free pumpkin bars, gluten-free pumpkin pie, gluten-free thanksgiving dessert and gluten-free pumpkin cheesecake.
For more gluten-free cupcake recipes, try these gluten-free vanilla cupcakes, gluten-free chocolate cupcakes and gluten-free red velvet cupcakes.
Dry Ingredients
- Gluten-free flour: Be sure to use a high-quality gluten-free flour blend with xanthan gum. I like to use King Arthur gluten-free measure-for-measure baking flour. Bob’s Red Mill is a great option too!
- Baking soda and baking powder: Baking soda and baking powder both help the cupcakes rise and create a light crumb for these pumpkin spice cupcakes.
- Salt: I like to use fine sea salt for these gluten-free pumpkin cupcakes.
- Spices: Warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and allspice create the pumpkin spice flavor we all know and love!
Frosting Ingredients
- Powdered sugar: Any brand of powdered sugar will work for this cream cheese frosting recipe.
- Butter: I prefer using salted butter for my baking. It has more depth of flavor than unsalted butter!
- Cream cheese: Be sure to use full-fat cream cheese, which has better flavor than fat-free. Soften to room temperature before creaming with butter.
- Vanilla: Real vanilla extract is best for this frosting.
- Salt: I like adding a pinch of sea salt to bring out the flavors of this frosting!
How to Make Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cupcakes
Make the Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and pumpkin.
- Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and whisk together until smooth.
- Scoop the cupcake batter into the cupcake liners in the muffin tin, filling them ¾ full.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Let the cupcakes cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Make the Frosting
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on high speed until smooth and creamy.
- Add the 3 cups of powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then switch to high speed and beat for 2 minutes. If you want the frosting a thicker for piping swirls, add the extra 1/3 cup of powdered sugar.
- Frost cooled cupcakes however you’d like. I use this large round piping tip.
- I like to chill the cupcakes for 30 minutes before serving so the frosting is set. Store in the refrigerator before serving or up to 3 days. Enjoy!
Storage Instructions
Store gluten free pumpkin cupcakes in an airtight container the refrigerator before serving, or for up to 3 days.
FAQs
A large round piping tip is helpful for piping cream cheese frosting on pumpkin cupcakes. This ensures a consistent, professional look you’ll find with bakery-style cupcakes. Or you can use other piping tip styles to change the look of the frosting.
There are many ingredients that can be used to make extra moist cupcakes, such as buttermilk, sour cream, or extra egg. Canned pumpkin, banana, or apple sauce also add moisture (and nutrients) to cupcakes, without added fat.
Cupcakes usually taste better when made with oil. This ingredient gives the crumb a lighter, more tender texture and helps the cupcake stay more moist. Butter, in comparison, creates a more dry and heavy crumb.
Expert Tips & Tricks
- These are my favorite liners for gluten-free pumpkin cupcakes. They’re easy to remove and rarely stick to the cupcakes!
- I like piping the frosting with this piping tip! The piping bag and piping tip helps create a consistent, professional look that’s just like your favorite bakery-style cupcakes.
- Be sure to use a high-quality gluten-free flour blend with xanthan gum. I like to use King Arthur gluten-free measure-for-measure baking flour. Bob’s Red Mill is a great option too!
MORE GLUTEN-FREE PUMPKIN RECIPES
I hope you love this recipe as much as we do! If you try these gluten-free pumpkin cupcakes, be sure to leave me a comment/rating below. I’d love to hear from you!
Perfect Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcake Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten-free measure-for-measure baking flour 300g
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
Cupcake Other Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar 200g
- ½ cup brown sugar 105g
- 1 cup vegetable oil 225g
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 15 oz can of pumpkin NOT pumpkin pie filling
Frosting Ingredients
- 12 ounces full-fat block cream cheese, softened to room temperature 336g
- 3/4 cup butter, softened to room temperature 170g
- 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar, plus ⅓ cup more if needed 540g
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Make the Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and pumpkin.
- Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and whisk together until smooth.
- Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them ¾ full.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Let the cupcakes cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Make the Frosting
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on high speed until smooth and creamy.
- Add the 3 cups of powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then switch to high speed and beat for 2 minutes. If you want the frosting a thicker for piping swirls, add the extra 1/3 cup of powdered sugar.
- Frost cooled cupcakes however you’d like. I use this large round piping tip.
- I like to chill the cupcakes for 30 minutes before serving so the frosting is set. Store in the refrigerator before serving or up to 3 days. Enjoy!
Notes
- These are my favorite liners for gluten-free cupcakes.
- I like pipping the frosting with this piping tip!
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
I’m blown away at how delicious these cupcakes are! Super moist and wonderful flavor. I had to modify this recipe slightly, I only had about 200g of gluten free flour and had to sub in almond flour, and they still were fantastic! Thank you!
Hooray! I’m so glad they turned out for you!
two cups of King Arthur gf flour has 240 grams according to the back of the pkg. Your recipe for the cupcakes says 300gr of flour. Which is correct or am I missing something?
This is a very common question that comes up! I find that 1 cup of KAF weighs much closer to 150 grams. At the end of the day a cup measurement is subjective – and I think the manufacturer doesn’t realize gluten-free flour is denser than traditional wheat flour. Traditional wheat flour is 120 grams/cup. I like to make my recipes so they will turn out for both people using cup measurements and grams measurements. It is my way of doing it on this website (it’s consistent through all my recipes) even if it’s not the same as KAF. I hope this helps!