Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes (Maple Sweetened)

These vegan pumpkin spice cupcakes are a fun and wholesome treat that’s sweetened with maple syrup! Kids and adults alike love them. 

Happy weekend, everyone! I hope you had a good week and that you have some fun things planned for the next couple of days. Tomorrow, I’m hoping to go for a good long run, and then we’ll probably take the night off from cooking and order some pizza from Whole Foods Market (which, by the way, is really good!), and make this avocado kale Caesar salad on the side. I also made some vegan pumpkin spice Nanaimo bars yesterday, which have been a real treat- I can’t wait to share the recipe with you in the near future! And of course, at some point this weekend,  I’ll probably have to lock myself in my room to bang out this geography assignment that I’ve repeatedly been putting off because it is not my cup of tea. I can’t believe that there was a time when I liked university! 

But I digress. If your idea of weekend fun involves baking, might I suggest adding these vegan pumpkin spice cupcakes to your list? They’re my new favourite dessert. My dad, who is a very good and creative baker, deserves all of the credit for coming up with this variation on my maple vanilla cupcakes. 

These cupcakes are a cinch to make. All that’s required is some mixing of ingredients, pouring the batter into muffin tins, and waiting for them to bake and cool. For icing, I used my chilled vegan hot fudge sauce (which I usually have on hand in the fridge for emergencies anyways- lol), and it was AMAZING, especially if you’re like me and can’t get enough of the pumpkin spice + chocolate combination. If you go this route, you’ll need to ice the cupcakes right before enjoying, however, since the hot fudge sauce doesn’t stay firm for long. Another icing option is coconut whipped cream amped up with a little bit of maple syrup, orange juice, and orange zest. Or, go the traditional route and make a buttercream- vegan or not. 

INGREDIENTS YOU’LL NEED 

• Sunflower oil or melted coconut oil, maple syrup, non-dairy milk, vanilla extract, pumpkin puree, light spelt flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, cardamom, and apple cider vinegar. 

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a muffin pan with 11 paper liners or grease the pan with a bit of oil. 
2. Whisk together the oil, maple syrup, non-dairy milk, vanilla, and pumpkin in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and spices. 
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir or whisk just until no lumps remain- do not over-mix. Quickly mix in the apple cider vinegar. 
4. Pour ⅓ cup of batter into each muffin cup. 
5. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle cupcake comes out clean. 
6. Let cool in the muffin tins for 10 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 
7. Frost as desired and enjoy! 

I hope you love these vegan pumpkin spice cupcakes as much as my family and I did! If you  make them, let me know how you enjoyed them by leaving a comment and rating below the post. And if you share a photo to Instagram, be sure to tag @upbeet.kitchen and #upbeetkitchen so that I can see it and feature it in my Instagram story! 

Enjoy! 

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes (Maple Sweetened)

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★★★★★

5 from 2 reviews

• Author: Allison
• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 11 cupcakes 1x
• Diet: Vegan

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Description

These vegan pumpkin spice cupcakes are a fun and wholesome treat that’s sweetened with maple syrup! Kids and adults alike love them.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Wet Ingredients

• ⅓ cup sunflower oil or melted coconut oil (see note)
• ¾ cup pure maple syrup
• ⅔ cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
• 1 scant cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar (to be added after mixing wet and dry)

Dry Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups light spelt flour (see note)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ginger
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• ¼ tsp allspice
• ⅛ tsp cloves
• ⅛ tsp cardamom

Icing Options (Choose One!)

• Vegan Hot Fudge Sauce, chilled in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours
• Coconut Whipped Cream, with 1 teaspoon orange zest and 2 tablespoon orange juice or orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier, mixed in, if desired! 
• Vegan Buttercream

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a muffin pan with 11 paper liners or grease the pan with a bit of oil.
2. Whisk together the oil, maple syrup, non-dairy milk, vanilla, and pumpkin in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and spices.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir or whisk just until no lumps remain- do not over-mix. Quickly mix in the apple cider vinegar.
4. Divide the batter between the 11 prepared cups. I pour ⅓ cup of batter into each muffin cup.
5. Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle cupcake comes out clean.
6. Let cool in the muffin tins for 10 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Frost as desired and enjoy!

Notes

If you are using melted coconut oil, all of the other wet ingredients will need to be at room temperature; otherwise, the coconut oil will solidify upon contact and the batter won’t have the proper consistency.

If you don’t have light spelt flour on hand, you can use regular all purpose flour in its place. Gluten-free 1 to 1 all-purpose flour should also work if you need a gluten-free option.

If using chilled vegan hot fudge sauce, it’s best to ice these cupcakes right before serving, because it doesn’t hold up well at room temperature.

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
• Category: Dessert
• Cuisine: American