Fall means pumpkin EVERYTHING and that makes me so happy!! Today, I’m sharing a delicious, easy recipe for Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip cupcakes. This cake is so good and it all starts with a box of yellow cake mix- yay! Easy.

Don’t let the cake mix fool you though, it doesn’t taste like a cake mix recipe because there are so many add-ins from canned pumpkin to spices and of course, white chocolate!

I love the sweetness that the white chocolate chips add to the recipe. However, if you don’t like white chocolate, you can leave them out and you’ll have a great pumpkin spice cupcake recipe too. I’ve even made them with semi-sweet chips– all good! If you love pumpkin, you’re going to love these!

How to Make Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

After combining the ingredients in the mixing bowl and mixing for a couple of minutes on medium speed, fold in your white chocolate chips. 

Place the liners in the cupcake pans (this recipe makes 24), fold in your white chocolate chips, and fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes (times may vary slightly). 

How to know if your cupcakes are Finished Baking

When your cupcakes look about done, you can make sure that they are ready by lightly touching the top of the cupcake. If the top springs back, it’s ready. If it leaves a depression where you touched it, close the oven and bake for a little longer. 

If you’re still unsure, you can insert a toothpick into the center of the cupcake. If it comes out clean or with just a crumb or two attached, it’s ready.

Remove the cupcakes from the pan soon after removing from the oven. (If you leave the cupcakes in the pan too long after removing from the oven, the steam/moisture trapped in the wells may cause the paper liners to loosen.)

Time to add the Cream Cheese Frosting!

Once the cupcakes have cooled, it’s time to add the cream cheese frosting! First, I pushed my piping bag filled with cream cheese frosting (no piping tip) halfway into the cupcake and squeezed the bag for a few seconds to add a little pocket of cream cheese in the cupcake center.

I love cream cheese frosting so much that adding a little pocket of it in the center of the cupcakes is a must! You can skip this step if you want, (but really, it’s so good this way!)

Oops! I made a few plain pumpkin spice cupcakes without white chocolate chips in this batch and accidentally picked up one of those for the photo below! Still, I wanted you to see what the little pocket of cream cheese looks like on the inside. Just imagine that there are white chocolate chips around it ;0) 

After adding the cream cheese filling, I swirled the tops with 2D piping tips and a few with a 6B. I was experimenting. The cupcake in the photo below was swirled with a 2D tip, starting from the outside edge and spiraling inward and up. ;0)

As a final touch, I lightly sprinkled cinnamon over the tops. (Make sure you just barely tap the bottle as you hold it sideways so that you don’t have too much!)

That’s it! I hope that you enjoy this recipe!

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Yield: 24 cupcakes

Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

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These EASY Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cupcakes are so delicious and perfect for fall.

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes

• 1 Package Yellow Cake Mix ( I used Duncan Hines Classic Yellow 15.25 oz (432g) Plus 5 Tablespoon flour (42g) ***See My Note Below
• 1/2 c. (100g) Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 c.107g) vegetable oil
• 1 cup (235g) pumpkin (Not pumpkin pie filling). We use Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin--15 oz. can (425 grams)
• 1/2 cup (121g) milk
• 1 tsp (4g) vanilla
• 2 teaspoons (6g) ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon (1g) ginger
• 1 teaspoon (2g)nutmeg
• 4 eggs
• White Chocolate Chips (I used about 1 1/2 cups. Adjust to your liking.)
• Disposable piping bags
• Piping Tips of Choice: I used 2D and 6B tips

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 cup (2 sticks) (226g) unsalted butter, softened (do not soften in microwave)
• 3 (8 ounces) (226g) packages full fat cream cheese, (total 678g) cut into 1 inch pieces and softened.....do not use reduced fat cream cheese or cream in tub containers (do not soften in microwave)
• 3 cups (343g) powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put cupcake liners into the wells of your cupcake pans (makes 24 cupcakes)

1. In the bowl of your mixer, add the cake mix, 5 Tablespoons flour, (hand whisk to blend the flour into the cake mix, sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla, pumpkin, milk, spices, and eggs.
2. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes until well blended. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl half way through. Fold in white chocolate chips. Spoon batter into cupcake liners.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until the cupcake springs back when lightly touched on top.
4. Allow to cool.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Put the softened butter in the bowl of your mixer and mix until smooth.
2. Add the pieces of softened cream cheese to the mixing bowl. The cream cheese should be soft enough that it combines easily into the butter/powdered sugar mixture. Beat on low/medium speed about 1 minute or until the cream cheese is blended in.
3. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat on Medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes (a bit longer if using a hand mixer). Scrape the bowl mid way through. Do not over beat.
4. Makes 6 cups
5. Use immediately or refrigerate. If beaten too long it my become too soft. If this happens, just refrigerate a short time and let it firm up.

Assembly

Once cupcakes have cooled, load a disposable piping bag with cream cheese frosting and snip the top away, leaving a medium sized opening.

Insert halfway into center of cupcake and squeeze in the cream cheese filling for a few seconds.

Swirl frosting onto top of cupcake with piping tip of choice. We used 2D and 6B tips.

Notes

I've also made this recipe using Duncan Hines Spice Cake Mix instead of Yellow Cake Mix-- If you do this, you do not need to add the additional spices!

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Don’t miss my other favorite recipes in my Recipes section!