Fall Harvest Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
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These Fall Harvest Cupcakes are as aesthetically pleasing as they are scrumptious! Chocolate fudge cupcakes and topped with peanut butter frosting, fall sprinkles, and peanut butter cups, it’s like biting into all the colors of fall!
For more seasonal food, check out The Ultimate List of Autumn Recipes for the Fall Season! Right-click and open a new tab to read next.
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Fall Harvest Cupcakes
The full ingredients list and instructions are found in the printable recipe card at the end of this post. I highly recommend reading the blog post all the way through so that you don’t miss any tips or substitution suggestions, to ensure that you have all the ingredients and equipment required and understand the steps and timings involved.
Fall is here and it’s time to celebrate the harvest!
Peanut butter and chocolate are a match made in heaven, and the chocolate fudge cupcakes topped with peanut butter frosting will take you there with every bite!
You get a head start on the cupcakes by using a box of cake mix, and if you’ve made any of our cupcakes before, you know that the frosting is really easy to make – you just need to make sure you get the consistency right to hold that beautiful swirled peak on top of each cupcake.
For more autumnal goodness, a layer of frosting is covered in a mixture of fall sprinkles and then topped with more frosting and half of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.
These fall harvest cupcakes are going to be hard to resist! Make them for a Harvest Festival, bake sale, or even for Thanksgiving – they are sure to be a hit!
If you’re an experienced cake maker you can probably jump straight to the recipe at the end of this post and get baking!
But if not, please read through the steps as I’ve got lots of tips and suggestions along the way!
Ingredients & Equipment Used In This Recipe
For your convenience, any specialized or notable ingredients and equipment needed to make these cupcakes have been listed below and linked to Amazon or other stores if available online. Standard ingredients such as flour or sugar are not listed, as you are likely to have those in your kitchen. The full list with measurements is found in the recipe card.
Cupcakes & Frosting Ingredients
- Box of Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix – the usual additional ingredients are changed to butter, milk, and eggs to enrich the cake mix.
- Powdered Sugar – also known as Icing Sugar and Confectioner’s Sugar.
- Pure Vanilla Extract – always buy good vanilla as it really does make a flavor difference.
- Creamy Peanut Butter
Decorating Ingredients
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
- Sprinkles – you can use any fall sprinkles that you like! Make a mix of your own with different single sprinkle types, or buy a ready-made mix. Whatever you use, you will want about 2 cups (16oz/450g) to decorate the cupcakes. You will need about 2 cups of sprinkles.
- The sprinkles pictured are Sweet Tooth Fairy Forever Fall Sprinkle Mix (from Michael’s in the US)
- An alternative are Wilton Autumn Sprinkles (you will need 4 packages)
Cupcake Decorating Equipment
- Medium Ice Cream Scoop – for scooping frosting and cupcake batter.
- Large Piping Bag – you can use disposable or reuseable, your choice.
- Large Star Tip – for example, Wilton 1M
Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog use both cup measurements and/or weighted measurements. American cups and kitchen food scales are handy pieces of equipment to have in your kitchen as it means you’ll be able to make all of the different recipes on my blog! I try to give American, imperial, and metric measurements in my recipes. You can mix cup measurements with weighted measurements, but never imperial (pounds, ounces, pints, etc.,) with metric (kilograms, grams, litres, etc.,).
Fall Harvest Cupcakes Recipe Tips
Cupcake Making Tips
- These cupcakes are made using a box of cake mix – the flavor is enriched by using butter, milk, and eggs, instead of the usual oil, water, and eggs.
- Use your choice of cupcake liners – themed to the cupcakes, plain white or black, or a complimentary color.
- Use an ice cream scoop to equally divide the cupcake mixture between the cupcake liners. Fill them about three-quarters full.
- The cupcakes should be ready in about 20 minutes – test their doneness by inserting a toothpick into the cakes. It should come out clean when the cupcakes are cooked all the way through. Bake for an extra 2 minutes and check again.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Cupcake Frosting Tips
- When making the frosting you want the end result to be creamy, smooth, and to hold a stiff peak. You may have to adjust the amount of powdered sugar and cream slightly to achieve the consistency you need.
- These cupcakes are double-frosting, the first layer is flattened and rounded off a bit to create the base for lots of sprinkles, and then there is a swirl of frosting on top of that. Put an ice cream scoop to good use again for the first frosting layer and use a butter knife or angled spatula to level it off.
- SPRINKLES! Following the color/theme provided in the recipe, you can use any type you like such as nonpareils, jimmies, stars, confetti, pearls, or shapes – you’ll need about 2 cups of them in total to cover the cupcakes.
- Use a piping bag fitted with a large star tip to pipe the swirl on top of the sprinkle layer.
- If you feel like you are going to be making a lot of cakes and cupcakes in your future, I think it is worth investing in a set of piping tips so that you know you always have the right ones on hand for a recipe.
- Do not overfill the piping bag with frosting, and make sure you squeeze the frosting down the bag to expel any air bubbles.
- If you are not confident with your piping skills you can practice on some parchment paper first and scoop the frosting back into the bag to use on the cupcakes.
More Fall Cupcake Recipes
Looking for more autumnal cupcakes to make? Check these recipes out next:
- Awesome Mini Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes for Fall or Halloween!
- Pumpkin Spice Baileys Cupcakes Recipe
- Salted Caramel Pumpkin Cupcakes
How Do I Make Fall Harvest Cupcakes?
Just check out the recipe card below with full ingredients, and instructions. You can print the card out too (don’t worry, the pics don’t print to save your ink!).
Fall Harvest Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
- 1 box chocolate fudge cake mix
- 3 large eggs
- 1¼ cup whole milk
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened
For the Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup creamy/smooth peanut butter
- 2 cup powdered sugar icing sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 Tbsp heavy whipping cream double cream
- 2 8oz packages of Sweet Tooth Fairy Forever Fall Sprinkle Mix or other Fall Sprinkle Mix
- 12 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups cut in half
SUGGESTED PRODUCTS
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Line a cupcake pan with 24 liners and set it aside.
- Using an electric handheld or standing mixer, beat the cake mix, butter, milk, and eggs until combined.
- Fill the cupcake liners about three-quarters full.
- Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
- To make the frosting, use an electric handheld or standing mixer and beat together the butter, peanut butter, powdered sugar, heavy whipping cream, and vanilla extract until combined, smooth, and holds a peak.
- Scoop 1 cup of the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star tip and set it aside.
- Pour the sprinkles into a bowl.
- Using a medium ice cream scoop, divide the frosting onto the cupcakes and smooth lightly into a thick disk using a butter knife or palette knife.
- Dip the frosted cupcakes into the sprinkles to cover completely.
- Pipe a swirl of the reserved frosting on top of each cupcake.
- Place a halved Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup on top of each cupcake.
- Enjoy and Happy Fall Y’all!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is always approximate and will depend on the quality of ingredients used and serving sizes. If you need exact calories and macros, please do your own calculations.
Make It A Meal!
You’ve made the dessert, but what about the rest of the courses?
Here are additional recipes to make a full meal for a dinner party or special occasion:
- Appetizer: Savory Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms
- Soup: Slow Cooker Pumpkin + Apple Soup
- Salad: Orange Pomegranate Salad with Goat Cheese, Avocado & Pecans
- Main Dish: Cast Iron Shepherd’s Pie Recipe – A Classic Comfort Food Dish!
- Side Dish: 5-Ingredient Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Balsamic Glaze
- Beverage: Apple Cider Dark and Stormy Cocktail
There are 500+ Recipes on The Purple Pumpkin Blog for you to enjoy – please feel free to check them out too!