It’s the most wonderful time of the year again! Whether you call it autumn, fall or something else (fun fact, fall is what it used to be called in the British Isles too until the newfangled word autumn took over!), September and October are some of the best months of the year. I summed up some of the things that I love most about autumn in this post if you’re interested.
These Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Frosting are so autumnal that you should probably bake them after a long walk through some crisp autumn leaves or going apple picking or something. Pumpkin is a subtle flavour, but when combined with nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger, it gives baked goods a delicate and delicious earthiness that is really gorgeous.
Here the pumpkin flavour is baked into whoopie pies – a hybrid between a cake and a cookie which is sandwiched together with frosting (sort of like a cupcake sandwich!).
Of course, no one has time to actually roast and puree an entire pumpkin, so I buy it canned instead. It’s fantastic for all sorts of other desserts too, like these pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes, or this pumpkin bread with crumble topping (great in muffin form too!).


- 2 cups / 350g light brown sugar
- 1 cup / 235ml vegetable oil
- 1.5 cups / 350g pumpkin puree
- 2 eggs
- 3 cups / 450g plain flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- .5 tsp bicarbonate of sofa
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract/vanilla bean paste
- 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 100g unsalted butter
- 250g cream cheese
- 500g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
- Preheat your oven to 175c/gas 4/350f, and grease three large baking sheets. In a large bowl, sieve to combine the flour, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and the spices. In another bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, pumpkin puree, vegetable oil and vanilla. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, and then leave the batter to settle for ten minutes.
- Scoop around 3 tbsp (or use an ice cream scoop) of batter onto your tray and spread into a circular shape - leave plenty of space between the whoopie pies as they will spread out. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the tops of the whoopie pies are soft and a golden brown colour.
- Let the whoopie pies cool for at least an hour before attempting to remove them from the trays - they will be soft and prone to crumbling if they're handled too soon.
- Combine your very soft butter with the cream cheese and mix together, in a stand mixer or by hand. Gradually add the icing sugar, sieving it in around 100g at a time, and mixing until incorporated. Add the vanilla bean paste and chill your frosting in the fridge until you're ready to fill your whoopie pies.
- Sandwich two whoopie pies together with cream cheese frosting. Keep whoopie pies in the fridge on a warm day, or in an airtight tin otherwise.
x Kerry
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Yay autumn is here! Pumpkin is my favourite ๐
These look amazing!! I need to buy me some canned pumpkin, pronto!
Amazon! Or Ocado/waitrose ๐