I love fall. I love everything about fall. I love the end to the blazing hot summer here in Phoenix, I love heading into the holiday season and I LOVE fall baking. Pumpkin, caramel, apples, cinnamon, pies, I love them all, and I try to mix, match and make them in as many ways as I can. These Caramel Pumpkin Cupcakes With Caramel Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting are a perfect example of that. Unfortunately we don’t have many traditional fall activities here in the desert such as apple or pumpkin picking, but we do certainly enjoy working those flavors into our menu to try and get a taste of fall.
Pumpkin is one of my favorite things to bake with year round, and I have found it to be a fabulous asset in the kitchen, even making a great replacement for butter or oil in many muffin and cookie recipes. The only thing better than pumpkin in my opinion is pumpkin combined with caramel. It’s a dreamy combination that I adore!
Last fall I made a pumpkin cake for my family and at the last minute poked some holes in it and poured on a little caramel ice cream topping before frosting the cake. My daughter is still, years later, talking about this cake. I thought it would be fun to make pumpkin cupcakes into poke cupcakes and add caramel to them, the same way that I did with the cake. It is so simple, after following the directions to make your cupcakes; you simply poke some holes into the top of your cupcakes (I used a straw for mine) and spoon on a bit of caramel sauce while they are still warm. The caramel sort of soaks through the cake giving it a nice hint of caramel flavor. If you are up to it, I highly recommend making your own caramel sauce. It’s simple and ridiculously delicious.
Not one to stop at adding caramel to just one part of the recipe, I decided that the frosting needed some caramel as well, so Caramel Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting it is! It is incredible. My husband has taste tested quite a few cupcakes in his day, and these were proclaimed to be one of the best cupcakes ever.
Once the cupcakes had cooled completely, I frosted them and added another small drizzle of caramel to the tops. You can easily skip this part, but it certainly makes for a lovely presentation. I also added a tiny topping of sea salt, because the only thing better than caramel is salted caramel. These can be a bit messy due to the caramel, so you may want to add the cupcakes to a second cupcake liner after removing from the cupcake pan.
Caramel Pumpkin Cupcakes
Caramel Pumpkin Cupcakes With Caramel Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 pkg. (2-layer size spice cake mix)
- 1 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream
- 1 can (15 oz. pumpkin)
- 1/4 cup oil
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping sauce
Frosting
- 1 pkg. (8 oz. PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened)
- 1/4 cup butter (softened)
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 3 1/2 - 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup caramel ice cream topping sauce
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- HEAT oven to 350ºF.
- BEAT first 5 ingredients with mixer until blended; spoon into 24 paper-lined muffin cups.
- BAKE 20 to 22 min. or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean.
- Cool in pan for 2-3 minutes then using a straw or knife, poke 3-4 holes in the top of each cupcake. Drizzle a small amount of caramel sauce over the top of each cupcake, allowing it to sink into the poked holes.
- Cool in pans 10 min.; remove from pans. Cool completely.
- BEAT cream cheese, butter, caramel and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until blended. Gradually beat in sugar. Blend in cinnamon and salt. Spread over cupcakes. Optional, garnish with a drizzle of caramel sauce and pinch of sea salt.
- STORE cupcakes in refrigerator.
Nutrition
The nutrition facts provided are calculated using a third-party tool and are estimates only. Actual nutritional content may vary based on the ingredients and brands you use, as well as portion sizes. For accurate results, please consult a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
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Originally posted on September 6th, 2013
Meet Christi, Love From The Oven
I’m Christi I love sharing easy & delicious recipes that your family & friends will love. I’m a mom, baker, cookbook author and lover of sprinkles.
Could these be made into a cake?
Erin, absolutely. I don’t have a baking time for you though, but I usually bake my cakes more by my nose and the spring back touch than times on the clock. 🙂
Hello Fall! Can you make these magically appear in front of me?
I love fall, too! Especially because of all the baking. And, these cupcakes just made their way onto my to-do list 🙂
I literally cant even imagine how delicious these taste… guess I’ll have to make them and find out..
These look absolutely delicious!
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Ugh, thanks Joanne. So frustrating, that’s just scraping lifting and pasting it all. Ridiculous. Thank you!
I love the idea of caramel and pumpkin together!! These look amazing!!! I think I love fall just as much as you do. 😉
Can’t wait to try these cupcakes! I’m with you: caramel is great, but salted caramel is outrageously good! I actually have a bag of pumpkin spice cookie mix in the pantry…I may drizzle some of this frosting over them. Thanks!
Those cupcakes sound absolutely divine and a “must make” for this year. For the caramel ice cream topping… is that 1/4 cup?
I am so making these for my guinea pigs (er, I mean my family)! My mom & dad love anything that has the words pumpkin, caramel & cheesecake, so will flip over them all together!