Pumpkin Roll Cupcakes
Baking for folks is a great way to show appreciation. Have you baked for anyone lately? Tell me what you made and who it was for in the comments on this post!
I just love this time of year. After our sweltering summers I can’t help but feel a rush of excitement when a cool breeze begins to blow. The cotton is in full bloom now and they just sprayed the defoliant this past week which means all of the green has died away and we now drive by fields that look like they’re filled with suspended balls of snow. It also means we have one jim dandy of a sinus headache with all of that defoliant in the air but we can pop a few sudafeds and still enjoy the beauty of those fields 
Do you remember being a kid in the fall? I remember wearing my brother’s hand me down jacket, pulling the hood up over my head to block out the wind, and me and my sister would rake up every leaf we could find into a huge pile and then spend the day jumping in it, burying ourselves in them, and raking them up again once the pile was depleted from all of our antics. You can sure bet our neighbors didn’t have any stray leaves hanging around their yard when we were done!
I always looked forward to Mama getting out our fall clothes because that meant a fresh crop of my brother’s flannel shirts from the year before were handed down to me. I’d rather have an old worn flannel shirt than a new one any day. The soft worn flannel and slightly too large size were like being wrapped up in a hug from sun up until we were called back into the house at supper time. Most of my childhood was spent wearing my brother’s old clothes, which I have to laugh at now because I know my daughter would be mortified at the very thought of putting on “boy clothes”. But for us, we were just proud to have what we had and I thought he’d hung the moon so I was proud to be following in his footsteps, even if it was just because I was wearing his old shoes.
I experienced fall more back then than I do now, because as a child I absolutely lived in it. Whereas now, I’m sitting here looking at it through my living room window. But you know what? A ray of sunshine is calling my name and the breeze just floated an orangish red leaf by. I think it’s time to pick the kids up from school and show them how to build a jim dandy of a leaf pile…
First, let me show you how to make pumpkin roll cupcakes.
All the flavor and goodness of a pumpkin roll but with a lot less fuss.
You’ll need: All purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice.
Goodness gracious, this looks like a commercial for Great Value brand! The ironic thing is that I’ve gotten in the habit of shopping mostly at Krogers nowadays, mainly because the people are so very nice there. I love it when you can shop someplace and get to know folks. When you walk in the door and they say “Hi” and you know they recognize you. It just feels like a community. Like the good old days.
I know a lot of the folks at my Wal Mart are very friendly as well, but with the size of the store and turnaround and such, it’s just harder to get to know people there. Just wanted to clarify that I like people at both places!
In a mixing bowl, place your flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, salt, and sugar.
Okay, so basically just measure out all of your dry ingredients and toss them in a bowl.
Stir that up with a spoon just to mix it up a bit.
Now add in your eggs and pumpkin.
And mix it up until well combined and smooth.
Yes, it will be this horribly putrid orange color. This always looks like bad baby food to me, but I promise it will taste amazing. In fact, it tastes pretty dern good right now. Not that I want you to taste it, because it has raw eggs in it, and everyone knows that if folks taste anything with raw eggs they’ll keel over and die within the hour.
So don’t do that. And just ignore that I said it tasted good in batter form because, you know, there is no way I could POSSIBLY know that without tasting it and with those raw eggs, had I of had even the smallest taste, I would have met certain doom and obviously would not be here typing to you now after doing such a reckless thing.
~breathes~
Now that we’ve got that settled…
Divide batter evenly among the cups of a twelve cup muffin tin, that has been lined with cupcake papers.
I was trying to decide if I wanted to make mini cupcakes or regular cupcakes for this tutorial so as I was getting ready to photograph it I texted my friend Jyl:
Me : “Full cupcakes or minis?”
Jyl : “I say full because I don’t just want a mini. I want more. And it sounds better to say I ate one cupcake than it does to say I ate five mini ones.”
Her wisdom made sense so we have full size cupcakes in this tutorial
Bake those at 350 for 20 minutes, or until the center springs back when lightly pressed.
Allow to cool completely.
I stick mine in the refrigerator so I don’t have to wait as long. Patience is a virtue but I’m afraid it isn’t one I often possess.
Now we’re gonna make our icing.
This icing is the traditional filling for a pumpkin roll and you’ll notice that it doesn’t use near as much sugar as traditional cream cheese icing does, and I actually like that better. It still tastes plenty sweet though.
You’ll need: Confectioner’s sugar, butter, a brick of cream cheese, and vanilla.
You don’t need this gallon looking thing of imitation vanilla that I have but that was the best deal at Sam’s club and you know how I am about buying in bulk…
Okay, you probably don’t know how I am about buying in bulk, but trust me, my husband (who recently had to load and unload six months worth of tomatoes and apple juice from my car) thinks you are better off NOT knowing how I am about buying in bulk.
Toss all of your icing ingredients into a mixing bowl.
You know a lot of recipes want you to add things gradually, sift things, and hold your pinky toes a certain way while making them. I’m not like that. Dump. Mix, Bake, Eat. If I’m gonna treat something with that great of care it needs to be cute, bald, have teeny tiny feet, and my last name.
I have no idea where my final icing picture went. So just beat this up until smooth and creamy and then imagine a photo of it being all smooth and creamy.
While you’re at it, imagine my house is clean, too!
~grins~
Alrighty, now we’ve got our icing mixed up and we’re ready to fill come cooled cupcakes.
Note: You can TOTALLY skip this step if you want and just put a big old gob of icing on the top of these puppies. Half the time I skip this step, but I went the extra mile for you today on accounta I love you so much.
What I do is get a gallon freezer bag and then I place a big piece of tape over one corner of it before snipping off the point. Insert whatever icing tip you can find, preferably one with a point on it, and you’re ready to go.
Okie Dokie, now fill you bag with icing and seal it shut really well. Take the pointed tip and stick it down as far as it will go into the cupcake like this. Give it a good squeeze.
Or just skip ahead to the part where we put a big old gob of icing on these things
Note: My plastic bag went kapoot after about six cupcakes and icing went all over tarnation. Clearly, some plastic bags are made better than others and clearly, if plastic bags were people I’d not be a very good judge of character.
Some will end up with more icing in them than others but it is the thought that counts.
Top each cupcake with a big dollop of icing and spread slightly.
I think these are prettier if you leave a bit of the edges showing. Enjoy!
I store these in the refrigerator. They’d be beautiful topped with a pecan half.
Enjoy with a cup of coffee or as a special after dinner treat
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 heaping tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Place 12 cupcake papers in a 12 cup muffin tin.
- In mixing bowl, place sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Stir with a spoon until well combined. Add in eggs and pumpkin. Mix with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Divide evenly among 12 muffin cups.
- Bake at 350 for twenty minutes, or until center springs back when lightly pressed.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
- To make the icing, place butter or margarine, cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Beat with electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
- To fill cupcakes (Optional), place icing tip in corner of a freezer grade zipper seal bag (it is best to enforce the corner of the bag with tape beforehand). Snip off tip of bag so that only the very end of the icing tip is sticking out. Fill bag with half of icing.
- Press tip down into the center of each cupcake and give a little squeeze to fill. Repeat with all cupcakes.
- Spread remaining icing on top of all cupcakes. Store in the refrigerator.
Print This Recipe
“If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you will die a lot of times.”
~Dean Smith
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Oct 3 2011. Filed under Breads, Breakfast, Cake.
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I made banana mini muffins and blueberry mini muffins for the hospital nursing staff that took care of me after a recent surgery. They took excellent care of me for several days and I wanted to show my appreciation. Apparently, food is the ultimate thank you gift because their response was above and beyond a thank you. Once again, I was the recipient of the blessing.
I made a chocolate cake and took it to my neighbors who had lost their mother. Seems like people don’t do this much anymore, but I think it shows the family that you are thinking of them during such a difficult time. I know when folks have done it for my family it has meant so much!!
I MADE A CARROT CAKE FOR MY MOM’S 88 BDAY
I made a whipping cream pound cake for my aunt Loretta’s 77th birthday.
i made these and followed the recipe and they look like 12 little puny half full cupcake liners because the batter doesn’t rise any.
so i guess next time i’ll probably double the batter recipe and it’ll make about 12-14 cupcakes. grrr i’m mad! i wanted to have something to show off. lol but they are very very tasty and definetely hit the spot for pumpkin roll! 
I’m so sorry to hear that Nikki, but glad they still tasted great! my batter rose and this recipe for batter is definitely supposed to rise. Did you add in the baking powder and soda? Is there any chance either of those could be past their prime a little maybe? I’m the world’s worst for leaving my baking soda sitting out open! I’ve gotten to where I just buy new baking soda every few months and use the old for things around the house so I know I have fresh.
I made these last night – they are fantastic! Thanks for the recipe.
These are definitely on my to bake list. sound really yummy….my mouth is watering.
Two trips to Wally World (it is hard getting older and forgetful) and I have all the stuff I need to nest and bake this weekend! Have a fun trip to Charleston and we will hope this beautiful weather continues there…
Thank you Diane! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!
My grandmother turned 93 years young this week. She loves my potato soup and cornbread muffins so I delivered that to her with peach cobbler for dessert. Great comfort foods for cool weather.
These are very good. Instead of messing with a bagie and tape on a tip, I used a squeez bottle with a tip on it. (mustard or ketchup squeez bottle, like in a restaurant) that worked really well. Thanks for all the great recipes.
GREAT idea Sandi!!!! Thanks for sharing!!
Just made these for the fam and haven’t iced them yet. Recipe turned out wonderful. Thank you soo much for posting this. Looking forward to more yummies.
I am so glad you like them Craig!! Have one for me!!
I got everything together to make these, then realized that I don’t have “pumpkin pie spice”. What does that consist of? Can I use a traditional mix of nutmeg and all-spice or something instead? Thanks.
I like to get my 4 year old, Brandon, to help me cook/bake. Last weekend we made sugar cookies together…we absolutely did NOT taste the cookie dough…I mean, I obviously wouldn’t be alive to post this
anyhoo, it seems he enjoys eating SO much more if he’s involved in the production process. I plan on giving these amazing cupcakes a go this weekend!! Thanks for posting it!!!
I hope you have fun making them with Brandon and y’all enjoy them!!
I made these yesterday and they were delicious. I had some pumpkin butter on hand from the local farmer’s market so I added 2 tbs to the batter and they came out sooooo moist. My husband devoured them. I love how the icing is not too sweet. These have already been requested to make again since they are already gone:) Thanks a bunch.
I am so glad they were a hit Jamie!!!
I made these yesterday and took them to work with me last night. These went over real well. I had about a half a cup of pumpkin leftover so I put that and about half of everything else in my bowl. After 12 cupcakes I lined a small baking sheet with wax paper and poured the rest of my batter on it. So I made a small pumpkin roll for my mother who loves them and fusses at me for never making her one…LOL!!! Talk about killing two birds with one stone!! I will be using this recipe this weekend to make a couple pumpkin rolls for the freezer for mom!!
Great idea Gayle!!!
Absolutely Amazing! This is everything I love about Autumn in a cupcake. I made these for my bosses/supervisor for National Boss’ Day and also gave some to my husband’s family and coworker. I started off baking one batch and had pumpkin left over, so I made a second batch. I filled my liners higher than usual and still had batter leftover. After they cooled, the tops felt a little sticky, so I sprayed a little cooking spray on them and dipped them in cinnamon sugar.(I’m sure melted butter would had work). The cream cheese icing was *drools* great, and even better when I added a shake of pumpkin pie spice. Topped them off with orange sugar crystals.
I wish I could show you a pic, they were a treat!
Made a double batch of these for a friends birthday at work. Followed directions exactly and they were perfect. Needless to say, they were a hit! Everyone loved the surprise filling in the middle and wanted the recipe. My hubby and kids loved them too. Pumpkin is my favorite and this is one of my new favorite pumpkin recipes. This one is a keeper! Thanks for another delicious recipe Christy .
P.S. If you have not made these yet, you really need to do it soon- you will love them.
I have a cute pumpkin cake pan–two small bundt pans that you place together that I use one cake mix for both. If I doubled your recipe, do you think it would work to make a cake? I can then frost it with tinted cream cheese frosting to look like a pumpkin.
I made this last week and they were great! I just put the icing on the top though because I couldn’t “find” the tips that I bought. Just my luck..still haven’t found those darn things either!! I’m making them again hopefully tonight and I’m gonna fill them…oh and I’m gonna add some nuts to that batter!!
Yummy!!! Please have one for me!!
I made pumpkin butterscotch muffins for my co-workers and made them each an Autumn goodie bag on Halloween!
I made some pineapple/coconut cupcakes for my co-workers, yum!
I made these last night and they are soooo good. Easy, too, since I had bags and tips from a short cake decorating class. Icing is wicked. My son wouldn’t stay out of it. I did manage to stretch the icing to cover 24 cupcakes.
Made these for in-laws Thanksgiving dinner tonight. They came out AMAZING!! Doubled the recipe & doubled frosting recipe too! I used cinnamon & nutmeg instead of pumpkin pie spice. Added a 1/2 Cup extra of powdered sugar. I filled & piped tops. Looked beautiful & received a lot of compliments; but the best compliment was that they were ALL gone by the end of the night!
Christy, my younger son loves pumpkin rolls and I make him one every Thanksgiving and Christmas. Your recipe looks yummy and much easier to make. I think I’ll make these instead of the roll for Christmas.
christy….these are the BEST PUMPKIN MUFFINS I everrrr had………..oh my. Ohhhhhmy!!!!!!!!!
In order to use the whole can of pumpkin in order not to waste ( assuming you only want to make one batch) do i need to increase the flour, eggs, etc or will they turn out fine with the extra pumpkin, pumpkin (winks) ? Lollie. P.s. i cant post in the forum. Im so sad!
This is great I tried making pumpkin rolls 3 times and I could never get them to roll without it breaking, so I gave up on them and just enjoyed eating them when I got to be at my sisters on holidays. Now I will just making the cuocakes.
Christy, I wanted to tell you how much I enjoy your blog. I have saved so many of your recipes. I was born and raised in West Virgina but I have lived in Phoenix, AZ. for the last 9yrs. Even though I still cook good old home southern foods I find myself cooking a lot of other cuisines also. But reading your recipes and remembering my mom cooking them is sort of like a hug from my mom, I think it is time to get back to the foods I was raused on.
Made this today. They came out great! Family loved them. Thanks so much!
I make chocolate chip cookies last weekend and every one enjoyed, But now I want to try something new and different and yes Pumpkin roll cupcakes is a perfect choice. It looks brilliant!
Thanks.
I am definitely trying this. My mom makes a huge mess every fall making her pumpkin rolls. This looks so much easier and I can use my new Williams & Sonoma muffin pan.
Made these last night! Turned out so well, they are sweet but not tooth-achingly so. And I got to use my kitchen-aid mixer that I got as a wedding gift. This is my 2nd fave fall recipe now, 2nd to your apple dapple cake!! Taking them to a family reunion in Franklin, GA today. Thank you
You just made my day Amanda!! I am so glad you got to use your mixer and am thrilled to hear that you like the recipe!! I hope you had fun at the reunion and all your treats were a huge hit!!
I made your Peach Cobbler Muffins for a bake sale at Church.
You can ALWAYS go and use those ” EGG BEATERS ” that is an Egg Substitute – then EAT ALL the Batter that you want to ! LOL ! It is Pasturized. Funny = How we didn’t ALL DIE from eating Cake Batter and Raw Cookie Dough – huh ? I ALWAYS go and Buy the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough from Papa Murphy’s Pizza ! It’s made with Powdered Eggs – so you can EAT ALL YOU WANT ! It is really INEXPENSIVE and is only just $2.99 for a POUND ! It freezes Great too ! Almost the Price of what it COST’s – for just a Bag of Chocolate Chips !
I made a Carrot Cake for my boyfriends birthday.
I think you deserve to get the girlfriend of the year award!! And can you bring me a piece?
I made your peanut butter oatmeal cookies and my brownies made from a bag of mix and a drained can of sweet potato. I have a question. When I pin a recipe there is only a number and some letters instead of the name of the recipe that shows up. did you realize this? just thought you would want to know. it’s not every one but most times.
I made these yesterday. I doubled the recipe so I would have plenty to share with my co-workers. I had 24 cupcakes and about a cup of icing leftover which I had to put in the trash to keep me out of it! Instead of doing it the way you did, I had purchased a cup cake corer on a recent trip to Amish country in Ohio. I took it upon myself to get all “fancified” and cored those cupcakes then filled them with the icing to the top with one of my decorater tips and they looked very bakery-ish. Most of my co-workers thought it was just a small dollop of icing on the top, but were thrilled to find out the icing was filling up the center of the cupcake all the way to the bottom! They were a huge hit, everyone loved them and I saw only one person who didn’t come back for seconds. They do taste like a pumpkin roll and were way easier to make. Thank you Christy for giving us yet another great recipe! Happy Halloween!
I am so glad to hear that they were such a hit Valerie!!! I hope you had a great Halloween as well!!
I’m sorry, one more thing…I used a 15 oz. can of pumpkin when I doubled the recipe and it was plenty. Couldn’t see opening another can to get that extra ounce.