Pumpkin Cupcakes With Cinnamon Buttercream

Autumnal Pumpkin Cupcakes With Cinnamon Buttercream – perfect for bake sales before Christmas.

Updated 2026 · Now with printable recipe

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It’s bake sale season in Walthamstow Village, with local events from pre-school discos, carols around the Christmas tree and the church bazaar all marked on the calendar.

I baked these Cinnamon Cupcakes With Pumpkin last week, I am embarking on personal challenge how many recipes can be gleaned from a single tin of pumpkin puree so you’ll see the others pop up in the next fortnight or so.

Although I love to bake cakes for local causes, I am also reticent as some places under value the products. Well-meaning old ladies marking up your hard work at “twenty pence” breaks my heart not only because of the hard work and ingredients I’ve provided but because they’re also slashing the amount of money they can raise.

This recipe has been adapted from the Primrose Bakery recipe. Whenever I’m donating cakes I use baking margarine to cut down on costs, but you can replace this with butter if you prefer.

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I always use butter for buttercream though. I decorated them with silver balls and dragees, partly because I had lots but my husband hates them. They could just as easily be decorated with sugar spiders and used for Halloween.

These cakes were intended to raise money for the church’s new boiler. I gave strict instructions that they should “try to sell them for a pound each” which was met with amusement when I collected my plastic boxes afterwards. “Ah! Here’s the lady who told us how much to charge!”

They went like proverbial hot cakes of course, a bargain at one pound!

Buying Pumpkin Purée in the UK

During October and November canned pumpkin puree is usually stocked by Waitrose and Ocado. The most common brands are Libby’s and Paula’s.

Otherwise, buy it on Amazon: the cheapest way is 6-12 tins in bulk. It’s incredibly good in vegetable curries, not just for autumnal baking.

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Other recipes where I’ve used pumpkin puree are:

• Pumpkin Mug Cakes with Chocolate Sauce 
• Pumpkin Layer Cakes
• Pumpkin Yogurt Cake

Print Recipe

Pumpkin Cupcakes With Cinnamon Buttercream

Servings: 24 cupcakes

Equipment

• 2 12 hole muffin tins lined with paper cases
• Piping bag optional
• star nozzle optional

Ingredients

• 220 g butter softened
• 480 g soft light brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 150 g pumpkin puree canned - Amazon sell it year round if it's not autumn.
• 250 g self raising flour sifted
• 240 g plain flour sifted
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 220 ml milk or 230ml buttercream (see instructions)
• 10 ml lemon juice

for the buttercream:

• 500 g icing sugar sifted
• 160 g butter unsalted, softened
• 50 ml milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon level not heaped

Instructions

For The Cupcake Bases

• Preheat the oven to 180c/ gas mark 4.
• Using an electric hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar in a very large mixing bowl until smooth.
• One by one, add the eggs, then vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree until just combined.
• Stir the spices into the flour, add around a third of the dry ingredients to the batter and beat until just combined.
• Meanwhile, in a small jug, tip the lemon juice into the milk for the cake mix and stir a little. It should coagualate a little and look like buttermilk. (You can use ready made buttermilk if you prefer).  Add half of the lemon juice/milk mixture to the cake batter and stir until just combined.  Repeat with a further third of the flour, then the rest of the lemon juice/milk and finally the last third of the flour.
• Divide the cake mixture between the cases. If using full size muffin cases, bake for 25 minutes, if using standard bun cases, bake for around 18 minutes. These times are a guide, your own oven may vary.
• Remove the cakes from the oven when a cocktail stick or cake tester just comes out cleanly.  Leave them in their tins to cool slightly before transferring onto a cooling rack.

For The Buttercream

• Meanwhile you can make the cinnamon buttercream. Beat the butter and icing sugar and cinnamon together in the food processor until they resemble coarse sand. Drizzle the milk through the funnel until you are happy with the consistency.
• When the cake bases are cool, spread over your cinnamon buttercream or pipe roses using a star nozzle.

Notes

Sponge bases adapted from Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery by Martha Swift and Lisa Thomas

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