Welcome Fall with these warm and decadent Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cupcakes! Made with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting, they’re a real treat.
Fall means all things pumpkin and pumpkin spice, am I right? I totally think pumpkin and chocolate go amazingly well together, they just work!
That’s no different with these Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cupcakes – they’re light and moist and adding in the chocolate chips adds that extra flavor that you can’t resist.
I love, love, love the silky buttercream and it just melts in your mouth and compliments the pumpkin and spices in the cupcakes so perfectly. And I am the world’s biggest cupcake lover, so this recipe is a no-brainer.
Each bite is the best dessert combo of chocolate and pumpkin and they just scream FALL! Perfect for fall festivals, parties, celebration, bake sales, and to just enjoy during some nice, crisp weather.
Plus I love a good hand-held dessert, and you really don’t have to feel too guilty about eating more than one, at least I don’t. It’s really hard to stop at just one with these honestly!
If you are looking for a great recipe that uses pumpkin, but you are also craving some chocolate – you need to make my Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cupcakes.
Some of our other favorite cupcake recipes we have on our site include: Hi-Hat Cupcakes, Banana Cupcakes and Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- Made with pantry staple baking ingredients.
- Perfect combo of chocolate and pumpkin.
- Ready in about 35 minutes.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (FULL RECIPE AT BOTTOM):
All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Pumpkin pie spice
Baking soda
Ground cinnamon
Fine sea salt
Eggs
Light brown sugar
Granulated sugar
Vegetable oil
Pure pumpkin puree
Vanilla extract
Mini chocolate chips
Unsalted butter
Semi-sweet chocolate bar
Powdered sugar
Heavy cream
HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE CHIP PUMPKIN MUFFINS, STEP BY STEP:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 12-count cupcake tin with liners, and set it aside.
- Stir together the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl, and set aside.
- Whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, sugar, and oil in another large bowl, until smooth and combined.
- Then whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla until smooth.
- Add in your dry ingredients to the wet ingredients bowl and stir until well combined.
- Add the chocolate chips and stir them in.
- Divide the batter among the cupcake liners. They should be about ⅔ of the way full.
- Bake cupcakes for 18-21 minutes until the cupcakes are domed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let them cool for 5 minutes in the pan. Place the cupcakes on a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
- Add the butter and melted chocolate to the body of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until combined.
- Add the salt, vanilla, and heavy cream, and stir until combined. Place on medium-high speed and whip until light and fluffy for 3 minutes.
- Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, add the frosting. Add more chocolate chips for garnish if desired. Serve immediately.
CAN I USE OTHER CHOCOLATE?
Yes, instead of mini chocolate chips, or a semi-sweet chocolate bar to melt, you can trade this out for dark chocolate, or white chocolate, or a mix of any of them and it would still work nicely.
WHAT OTHER FROSTING CAN I USE?
Wanna trade out the frosting? You sure can, here are a few other ideas: cinnamon buttercream, cream cheese frosting, cinnamon cream cheese frosting, white chocolate buttercream, or brown sugar frosting! These all would pair nicely with these cupcakes.
DO I HAVE TO USE PUMPKIN SPICE?
It doesn’t matter if you don’t have pumpkin spice or if you don’t like it, you can swap it out for the same amount of cinnamon. Or you can swap the cinnamon out for the same amount of pumpkin spice if you’re out of that!
HOW TO STORE:
These Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins should be stored in an airtight container at room temperature where they will keep for up to 3 days. If you want them to last longer, they’ll keep for 5 days in the refrigerator.
These can also be frozen, place your cupcakes in a freezer container and place in the freezer where they will keep for up to 3 months. You can do this frosted or unfrosted, if unfrosted just make the frosting and add when ready to eat.
To defrost, remove the cupcakes to the countertop or refrigerator until thawed, then enjoy!
TIPS AND TRICKS:
- When making the frosting, it makes a generous amount, enough to cover all of the cupcakes very well. If you don’t prefer that much frosting, you can cut the buttercream frosting part of the recipe in half.
- You can trade out this chocolate frosting for other options, see my suggestions above.
- Tired of pumpkin spice? Trade it out for cinnamon, see more tips on that above.
- This recipe is easy to double or triple and make more for others, or freeze a batch.
- I like to save a few extra mini chocolate chips to sprinkle on top of the frosting.
- Don’t overmix your cupcake batter or you’ll end up with super dense cupcakes instead of fluffy ones.
- These can be frozen, see how to do that above.
Are you looking for that new fall favorite dessert recipe? These Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cupcakes are easy, tasty and sure to be a hit!
if you like this recipe you might also like:
If you’ve tried this CHOCOLATE CHIP PUMPKIN CUPCAKES or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and what shenanigans I’m getting into!
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup pure pumpkin puree
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips plus more for garnish
For the frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate bar melted and cooled slightly
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 12-count cupcake tin with liners, and set it aside.
- Stir together the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl, and set aside.
- Whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, sugar, and oil in another large bowl, until smooth and combined.
- Then whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla until smooth.
- Add in your dry ingredients to the wet ingredients bowl and stir until well combined.
- Add the chocolate chips and stir them in.
- Divide the batter among the cupcake liners. They should be about ⅔ of the way full.
- Bake cupcakes for 18-21 minutes until the cupcakes are domed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let them cool for 5 minutes in the pan. Place the cupcakes on a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
- Add the butter and melted chocolate to the body of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until combined.
- Add the salt, vanilla, and heavy cream, and stir until combined. Place on medium-high speed and whip until light and fluffy for 3 minutes.
- Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, add the frosting. Add more chocolate chips for garnish if desired. Serve immediately.
Notes
- When making the frosting, it makes a generous amount, enough to cover all of the cupcakes very well. If you don't prefer that much frosting, you can cut the buttercream frosting part of the recipe in half.
- You can trade out this chocolate frosting for other options, see my suggestions above.
- Tired of pumpkin spice? Trade it out for cinnamon, see more tips on that above.
- This recipe is easy to double or triple and make more for others, or freeze a batch.
- I like to save a few extra mini chocolate chips to sprinkle on top of the frosting.
- Don't overmix your cupcake batter or you'll end up with super dense cupcakes instead of fluffy ones.
- These can be frozen, see how to do that above.
Nutrition
Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.
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