Moist gluten free pumpkin cupcakes with all the flavors of fall, topped with creamy tangy cream cheese frosting.
It has been well established, I am a big fan of pumpkin. #pumpkineverything #allthetime
Well, I needed to have a gluten free pumpkin cupcake recipe here on Flippin' Delicious. It was a HUGE oversight that there wasn't already a recipe here. So I fixed that this week. I baked some gluten free pumpkin cupcakes.
I made a few changes to my gluten free pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe to make the cupcakes soft and moist with a tight crumb. And of course they got topped with my easy cream cheese frosting, because the sweet tang of cream cheese frosting pairs perfectly with the subtle spice of the cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger in the gluten free pumpkin cupcakes.
My awesome sister-in-law was starting a new job and found out one of her new co-workers had celiac. Naturally she enlisted me to bake something to bring with her on her first day. So I sent her with a few of these!
I always have a hard time picking which tip to use for frosting cupcakes, I have so many favorites! At my sister-in-law's suggestion I used a large round tip to pipe a simple round pillowy cloud of cream cheese frosting. She said that pumpkin just needs a big dollop of creamy frosting, like whipped cream of a slice of pumpkin pie.
The sprinkle of cinnamon sugar on the top may or may not be optional.
Be careful to not over bake your gluten free pumpkin cupcakes. They aren't nearly as moist and soft when they are in the oven for a few minutes too long.
You can also make little gluten free pumpkin cupcake bites by baking the batter in a mini muffin tin. They are so cute and little! The one problem with them is that it is hard to stop eating them after just one or two. I made gluten free pumpkin cupcake bites the same time I baked the cupcakes. I baked them for about 10-15 minutes.
My head is starting to spin with all the gluten free pumpkin recipes that I want to try to make! Gluten free pumpkin roll cake, gluten free pumpkin bars, OOoooh! And I should try to make a gluten free pumpkin mug cake!
If you are looking for more pumpkin-packed recipes I think you'll love my friend Amanda from Gluten-Free Miami's Pumpkin Spice Cake Pops. They are so cute!
What are your favorite pumpkin recipes?
📖 Recipe

Gluten Free Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Moist gluten free pumpkin cupcakes with all the flavors of fall, topped with creamy tangy cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
- ⅔ c. brown sugar
- 2 cups MY GLUTEN FREE CAKE FLOUR BLEND
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- 2 eggs
- ⅓ c. melted butter or vegetable oil
- ¾ c. milk
- ¾ c. canned pumpkin puree
- ½ recipe Easy Cream Cheese Frosting
- cinnamon sugar, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line your cupcake pan with paper liners, or lightly grease.
- Combine all of the dry ingredients in a bowl. Form a "well" in the mixture and add all of the wet ingredients into that "well" and mix until combined.
- Fill your cupcake liners about ⅔ full.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick will come out clean.
- Once cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar
Notes
Be sure to use 100% pureed pumpkin, not pumpkin pie mix. Canned or fresh pumpkin puree is fine.
If you don't have pumpkin puree available you can use pureed or mashed sweet potato. Just steam the sweet potato until fork tender and then mash or puree.
Nutrition Information
Yield 18 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 149Total Fat 6gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 32mgSodium 196mgCarbohydrates 24gFiber 1gSugar 15gProtein 2g
All nutrition info is a guestimate and will vary depending on the ingredients you use.
Linked up at Waste Not Want Not Wednesdays,
Raia
Mmm! Those sound like the perfect thing to warm me up right now! Delicious!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
These were totally a great treat to give her 😉 Yay pumpkin!
flippindelicious
I LOVE pumpkin so much Rebecca! I don't want October to end.
EA-The Spicy RD
These look {almost} too pretty to eat! I just started getting my pumpkin on over the weekend, and now it looks like I need to do more baking 🙂 Can't wait for your GF pumpkin mug cake!!
EA-The Spicy RD
These look {almost} too pretty to eat! I just started getting my pumpkin on over the weekend, and now it looks like I need to do more baking 🙂 Can't wait for your GF pumpkin mug cake!!
flippindelicious
Thank you! Hopefully I get a chance to make the pumpkin mug cake in the next week or so!
Steph @ Steph in Thyme
So beautiful! Love your description of why cream cheese frosting pairs well with pumpkin cupcakes, I've never read it described that way before and you are ON POINT. Thanks for sharing your amazing cake flour blend!
flippindelicious
Thanks Steph!
Barbara Bianchi
So cute and the sprinkle of cinnamon sugar is perfect.
Emily @ Recipes to Nourish
These look AMAZING!!! That cream cheese frosting, oh my goodness ... yes please!
Yvette
I gave these a shot and they do not look as smooth and "cupcake" like as yours. Mine are horribly irregular - keeping the shape as I dropped them into the tins. Do you roll them before you put them into the tins? Mine sure seem dry.
flippindelicious
Hi Yvette,
Was your batter dry enough to roll? It sounds like there wasn't enough liquid in your batter.
Best,
Brianna
Ariana
Made this to the exact.
Would have been perfect with half the amount of liquid. It never completely baked but still tastes good although the texture is, well, a very wet muffin. Too much milk.
flippindelicious
Hi Ariana,
I'm sorry your cupcakes were too wet. I'd love to help you figure out what happened.
What did the batter look like before baking?
What gluten free flour did you use? Sometimes that is the issue, different gluten free flours absorb liquid differently.
Your oven temperature could also be a little low? They may have just needed a little longer in the oven. I have a thermometer in my oven, because in every house I've ever live in my oven has been almost 25°f too hot or too cool.
You can respond here, or send me an email at flippindelicious (at) gmail (dot) com.
-Brianna
Bethany
If I want to make these non gluten free what do I modify?
flippindelicious
Hi Bethany,
You can try making these with regular flour instead of gluten free flour, omitting the xanthan gum. However, gluten free baking is very different than regular baking and not all gluten free recipes adapt well to regular wheat flour.
Happy Baking! -Brianna