Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cinnamon Rum Frosting

It’s been nearly a month since Cupcake Camp, and I realized I still hadn’t put up anything about my Pumpkin Spice and Cinnamon Rum Cupcakes! Talk about serious slacking. I’m kind of disappointed in myself for not getting this up sooner, because of the two cupcakes I made for Camp, these were by far my favorite. (I actually had time to taste them! And eat quite a few…) Although Cupcake Camp is long past, and Halloween has come and gone, pumpkin season is still in full swing, so I’m not too terribly late!

I debated between the Vegan category and the Harvest category for my second entry of Cupcake Camp. I had passed over the Vegan category the first time around, but with specific categories like Harvest and Halloween to bake in this time, I felt it would be my best chance at a not-so-restrictive flavor. I have been thinking about making the Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes from Love and Olive Oil since I was lucky enough to be one of the readers to score the recipe cards they gave out as wedding favors recently. (Look how pretty they are! And such a great idea!) It wasn’t until I was wandering up and down the aisles of Whole Foods picking up the ingredients that I realized just how much I didn’t already have in my pantry, and didn’t know if I would ever use again. And it was getting pretty pricey. *sigh* Maybe I could make them another time, but for now, I’d have to skip them and try something else. Planting myself in the dining area of the store with Boyfriend’s iPhone, I started searching the site for cupcakes that didn’t call for a cart full of ingredients I’d never used before, and might not use again.

It didn’t take long to come across the Pumpkin Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Rum Buttercream. Not only did they sound delicious, but the only ingredients I didn’t already have at home were soy milk and pumpkin! Soy milk I know I can use again, and I already needed pumpkin for my Pumpkin Cookie Throwdown! Perfect! Plus I could use them in either the Harvest or the Vegan category! In the end I decided to enter them in the Harvest, merely because I already had regular butter at home, rather than buying margarine or vegan butter to make the frosting. But by all means, use those in the frosting and make them completely vegan! They’re seriously easy to make—a one-bowl recipe! Gotta love those. I omitted the chocolate chips from the original recipe, but go ahead and put in a half cup of mini chips if you want! Just watch taking them out of the oven. They’re super moist, and I misjudged how low the rack was and decapitated two as I was pulling them out.

They seemed to go over well at Cupcake Camp—there were none left, so I take it as a good sign! And my coworkers liked the few extras I had left over—I got recipe requests and one girl said it was the best cupcake she’d ever had. Yay! While I don’t know if they were the best ever, they are amazingly good. Especially the frosting. It’s sooo good. And I still have quite a bit of rum left over… hmm. I see lots of Cinnamon Rum Frosting in the future. Hopefully you’ve stocked up on enough canned pumpkin for all your pie-making needs that you’ll have enough to spare for a batch of cupcakes, cause you’ll definitely want to make some of these. I know I will be again.

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Pumpkin CupcakesAdapted from Love and Olive Oil
Makes 12 cupcakes



1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 cup granulated sugar
¼ cup soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.
3. In a large bowl, stir together pumpkin, oil, sugar, soy milk, and vanilla. Add flour mixture, gently whisking by hand until just combined. Don’t use an electric mixer or over mix the batter as it may become too gummy.
4. Fill liners with 1/4 cup batter (cups should be approximately 2/3 full). Bake for 22 to 24 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

Cinnamon Rum Frosting
Makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature*
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon dark rum (I used Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum)
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
a pinch of salt
milk, as needed to thin*

*Note: To make vegan cupcakes, substitute margarine or vegan butter and use soy milk to thin.

1. In a medium bowl, sift together confectioners’ sugar and cinnamon.
2. Using an electric or stand mixer, cream butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add rum and pinch of salt and mix until combined.
3. Add confectioners’ sugar mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well between additions. Continue to beat until light and fluffy. If frosting is too thick, add a bit of milk to thin it out (start with a teaspoon at a time). If too thin, add more sugar and continue to beat until it is the right consistency. Spoon into a piping bag or just slather it right onto the cupcakes.