Pecan Pie Cupcakes | Thanksgiving Cupcake Recipe
These Pecan Pie Cupcakes are made with a delicious butter pecan cupcake full of toasted pecans and topped with a brown sugar and cream cheese frosting!
They are the perfect fall and Thanksgiving cupcake!
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I’m so excited to be sharing these pecan pie cupcakes! They’re perfect for fall celebrations, Friendsgiving and Thanksgiving! They’re so delicious, however, that you can enjoy these any time of year!
Pecan Pie Cupcakes
Are you a pie person or a cake person? It seems people usually fall into one category or the other.
I’m a cake person, if I had to choose. However, I love all the pie flavors during the fall season, especially pecan pie which reigns supreme here in the South!
The smell of buttery, toasted pecans reminds me of my childhood holidays. Delish!
I wanted to find a way to blend my love for pecan pie and cake into one fabulous Thanksgiving dessert recipe. Behold, Pecan Pie Cupcakes!
They’ll impress your pie and cake fans alike and make your house smell perfectly ready for Thanksgiving. (P.S. Check out even more Thanksgiving Cake Ideas)
The cupcakes are simple to make and use a combination of all-purpose flour and cake flour which I find makes them light and fluffy!
I buy my cake flour, but if you can’t find it locally you can either find it online here or make your own by filling a 1 cup scoop with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and then filling to the top with all-purpose flour. Sift and use as cake flour!
There are toasted pecans baked right into the batter of these pecan pie cupcakes.
You can certainly add more or less, however, based on your own pecan preferences! I love pecans, so I add lots!
If you have friends or family coming in town for the holidays and they love pecan pie, you have to add these pecan pie cupcake to your dessert line-up!
Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
The brown sugar frosting is made with cream cheese so it’s fluffy, creamy and absolutely perfect on top of these pecan pie cupcakes.
It’s made with real dark brown sugar whipped into the cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar. It is heavenly!
I also add a little cinnamon to the frosting which gives it some extra holiday flavor.
It reminds me of the perfect “holiday frosting” that would be delicious on all types of cakes and cupcakes during the holiday season.
I might even frost this apple cake with with it this year too (I usually glaze it with brown sugar glaze but this frosting would be such a delicious alternative).
Topping your pecan pie cupcakes with more pecans is the only way, of course. You can use more toasted pecans or even candied pecans.
I did a mix with one candied pecan and a sprinkling of toasted, chopped pecans. It’s not the holidays around our house without candied pecans so they’re a no-brainer on these cupcakes.
I absolutely love these pecan pie cupcakes. They’re full of toasted pecans and holiday flavors! I hope you’ll serve up a tray of them for your Friendsgiving or Thanksgiving!
For more Thanksgiving dessert ideas, check out my brown sugar pie, butterscotch cinnamon pie and chocolate chess pie!
Pecan Pie Cupcakes
Ingredients
Butter Pecan Cupcakes
- 1 1/8 cups butter - softened, divided (1 cup + 2 tablespoons)
- 2 cups pecans - chopped
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups cake flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup whole milk
Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese - room temperature
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter - room temperature (1 1/2 sticks)
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2/3 cup pecans - toasted and chopped, for garnish
Instructions
For the Butter Pecan Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners and set aside.
- In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and stir in pecans. Toast over medium heat (about 4-5 minutes) but pecans can burn quickly so watch carefully.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together remaining butter (1 cup) and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Beat in vanilla extract.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add to mixer, alternating with milk.
- Using a spoon, fold in the toasted pecans. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake for 21-23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely.
For the Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
- Using an electric mixer, cream together cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
- Add in brown sugar and cinnamon and cream together these ingredients for 3-4 minutes.
- Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time until desired consistency is reached. For a thicker frosting, add additional powdered sugar.
- Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes and top with additional pecans or candied pecans!
Hi Courtney!
This recipe looks amazing AND delicious!
Your Pecan Pie Cupcakes will be on my Thanksgiving dinner dessert table andI know my family will love them! ???????????? Thank you Courtney.
This recipe seems very easy after your explanation. I will definitely try out the pecan pie cupcakes and please share a video of making this recipe if you can.
thanks for sharig this recipe … my son and wife liked so much..
The flavor was excellent, but mine came out dry. I don’t know what happened.
Mine also came out dry. I’m wondering if the bake time for me was the issue as my husband ate one while still warm and it was incredible. In fact he thought they weren’t done.
I had no cake flour and used all all-purpose flour. I would recommend starting the baking at 15 min, like most cupcakes because I put mine for 18 min and it was still overdone. Overall, the taste was there and worth a repeat
Can I half this recipe to make 18 cupcakes?
Yes, you can!
Thoughts on making a cake version. Anything besides time to do differently.
I had to change all purpose flour to cake flour by taking 2 tbspoon flour out and replaced with 2 tablespoon corn starch. My cupcakes tasted good but were hard after 12 hours.
Were they kept at room temperature in an airtight container? Refrigerating cupcakes can make them dry out as will leaving them out in the open, not in an airtight container.
Mine came out dry, just hopped back here to double check the recipe, and the only thing I reduced was the sugar in the frosting. So not sure how I could make them moist
Hi Lexi, Did you bake them longer? Sometimes over-baking a cupcake even by a little bit will make them dryer rather than moist. Were they stored in an airtight container or eaten right away?
Can you use 1% milk instead of whole milk?
Yes
What kind of butter?
This is one of my new favorite cupcake recipes. Everybody absolutely loved them and I now get requests for them from all my friends and colleagues:) not too sweet at all and very very tastful! Also…they are GORGEOUS, wish I could post photos of how well these turned out. Definitely a 10/10 for taste, look, and not too complicated!
The cake looks so delicious!
great post
This is one of my new favorite cupcake recipes. Everybody absolutely loved them and I now get requests for them from all my friends and colleagues
What kind of box cake did you use?
I’m thinking you could use a boxed yellow or white cake mix. Then toast the pecans as stated in recipe to be folded in after making your mix and add in a tsp of cinnamon and a tsp of vanilla. Use melted butter for the oil and milk for the water. I’d probably add a box of instant pudding as well. Bake as directed on the box.
I love this recipe
This will be my favourite dish from now
Thanks
Everyone in the shop loved these cupcakes. Will definitely bake this recipe again!