Gluten-Free Spice Cupcakes with Pumpkin Swirl Cream Cheese Frosting
Spice cake has always been a favorite of mine. When I was little, I’d always request it for my birthday. Heck, I still do! So it’s no surprise that these gluten-free spice cupcakes with pumpkin swirl cream cheese frosting make an appearance at our house AT LEAST once each autumn.
Recipe card and recipe updated on 9/1/21.
Jump to RecipeHow to Make Gluten Free Spice Cupcakes with Pumpkin Swirl Cream Cheese Frosting
There is nothing better than the smell of gluten free spice cupcakes baking in the oven. It’s cozy, comforting, and pretty much the best thing ever. My recipe for spice cupcakes is thankfully very easy. It’s a one bowl affair, no stand mixer required. That means less cleanup too. These little cakes are light with a tender crumb and tons of spicy cinnamon flavor. When topped with pumpkin swirl cream cheese frosting they are TO. DIE. FOR. The frosting pretty much tastes like pumpkin cheesecake. I added a little nutmeg, ginger and cloves to kick up the cake mix a just touch. And you know what? These two belong together. Seriously.
Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour blend
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your flour blend already contains it
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- ½ cup avocado oil or canola oil
- ½ cup lowfat buttermilk
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For The Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 ounces of cream cheese room temperature
- ½ cup butter softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
For The Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 5 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1-2 drops orange food coloring if desired
Instructions for Gluten Free Spice Cupcakes with Pumpkin Swirl Cream Cheese Frosting
- Preheat oven to 400 °F. Whisk the flour, xanthan if using, baking powder, salt, spices, and sugar together in a large bowl. Be sure to break up any clumps of brown sugar. Add the oil, buttermilk. eggs and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.
- Spoon the batter into a paper-lined muffin tin, filling each about ⅔ full. You should have 1 dozen cupcakes. Bake for about 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely on a rack.
- Prepare the cream cheese frosting. Place the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of your mixer and beat to combine. Add the sugar, vanilla and salt and beat until smooth. Remove from mixer, place in one side of a large zip-top bag (fitted with a large star piping tip if desired) and set aside.
- Clean the mixer bowl, then add the cream cheese and pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Add a drop or two of orange food coloring, if desired and mix to combine. Spoon the frosting into the other side of the large zip top bag next to the plain cream cheese frosting.
- If you haven’t already, snip off a corner of the bag and carefully twist the top of the bag to force the frosting down in the bag.
- Pipe (or swirl) the frosting decoratively over each cupcake. Chill until ready to serve.
I think you’ll love these gluten free spice cakes with pumpkin swirl cream cheese frosting as much as we do. Serve them for dessert at any autumn festival, picnic or party. Or make them just because.
Love pumpkin spice and everything nice? We’ve got you covered!
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Spice Doughnut Holes
- Healthyish Gluten Free Pumpkin Spice Muffins
- The Best Gluten Free Pumpkin Pancakes
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Gluten-Free Spice Cakes with Pumpkin Swirl Cream Cheese Frosting
These spiced cupcakes are delicious on their own. But it's the pumpkin swirl cream cheese frosting that really brings them up over the top. Serve them for dessert at any autumn festival, picnic or party. Or make them just because. For those who prefer to cook with weight instead of cups – click the button below to toggle to metric.
Equipment
- Muffin tin
Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour blend
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your flour blend already contains it
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1/2 cup avocado oil or canola oil
- 1/2 cup lowfat buttermilk
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 ounces of cream cheese room temperature
- ½ cup butter softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
For the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 5 tablespoons packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1-2 drops orange food coloring if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 °F. Whisk the flour, xanthan if using, baking powder, salt, spices, and sugar together in a large bowl. Be sure to break up any clumps of brown sugar. Add the oil, buttermilk. eggs and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.
- Spoon the batter into a paper-lined muffin tin, filling each about ⅔ full. You should have 1 dozen cupcakes. Bake for about 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely on a rack.
- Prepare the cream cheese frosting. Place the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of your mixer and beat to combine. Add the sugar, vanilla and salt and beat until smooth. Remove from mixer, place in one side of a large zip-top bag (fitted with a large star piping tip if desired) and set aside.
- Clean the mixer bowl, then add the cream cheese and pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Add a drop or two of orange food coloring, if desired and mix to combine. Spoon the frosting into the other side of the large zip top bag next to the plain cream cheese frosting.
- If you haven’t already, snip off a corner of the bag and carefully twist the top of the bag to force the frosting down in the bag.
- Pipe (or swirl) the frosting decoratively over each cupcake. Chill until ready to serve.
I have only tried the Betty Crocker and Bob’s Red Mill cake mixes. Can’t wait to try the snickerdoodle cake mix !!!!
I have not tried any gf boxed mixes. I have only used gf flour blends that I make.
I have tried Bob’s Red Mill cinnamon raisin bread mix, and that was OK, but got dry and hard too fast. Wegman’s gf cornbread mix was the favorite of all, even the rest of the family that still eats wheat/gluten! I would love to try these especially with the recipe in this post!
These cupcakes look mouthwatering. Can’t wait to make them. They will be perfect for my birthday on Thanksgiving Day!
I agree that Bob’s Red Mill makes some great mixes… those are the only ones I’ve really tried. I have a few other local brands in my cupboard that I haven’t tried yet but am hoping to soon. After I try them out I’ll make sure to comment if they are worth noting
The swirl frosting looks sooo good! I don’t have much experience with pre-made gluten free cake mix, it’s usually hard to find. Id love to try some!
These look SO good! I’ve used Bob’s Red Mill and Pamela’s mixes a lot but this looks really good. Thanks for sharing!
First, as you may know, Kyra just won the Food Network’s hit show Cupcake Wars for the THIRD time this past Saturday. And she’s still the only Gluten-Free winner ever.
Second, her book, “Sweet Cravings: 50 Seductive Desserts for a Gluten-Free Lifestyle”, has great recipes. And there’s a fun, short video intro to the book at http://www.tinyurl.com/kyrasweet
I cannot eat rice at all anymore. I actually got arsenic poisoning from the rice I eat. So any of the 1 to 1 blends don’t work for me because they all have rice flour in them. I have a few blends that don’t but they are very different. One has lots of tapioca and smaller amounts of other flours, like sorghum or millet. One is garbanzo bean flour based, and others have almond flour with other things. They don’t all work. I am trying out miscellaneous blends on gluten free recipes that have rice flour containing blends. Have you heard of anyone who baked with any of these and had luck? Thank you.