Keto Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Webs (Halloween Ready)

If a bakery and a haunted house had a baby, it would taste like these. Soft pumpkin spice cupcakes, low carb, with pretty cream cheese spider webs on top.

They look fancy, but the method is simple enough to pull off on a weeknight. My kids called them “spooky bites” and then fought over the last one. That’s the review.

This recipe is written for busy home bakers, food scrollers, and anyone who wants Halloween treats without knocking their blood sugar off a cliff.

We’re keeping the sugar low, the ingredients easy to find, and the steps crystal-clear. No chef talk. Just straight, tasty instructions.

What you’ll love about these cupcakes

• They taste like fall in a cozy sweater way. Warm spice, real pumpkin, not too sweet.
• Keto and gluten free thanks to almond flour, a hint of coconut flour, and a sugar free sweetener.
• Moist and tender not dry or mealy. Pumpkin purée and a bit of cream fix that.
• Spider webs that actually look like webs. You’ll pipe thin lines of tangy cream cheese icing, drag a toothpick, done. Kids think you’re a wizard.
• Make ahead friendly. Bake today, decorate tomorrow, still soft and nice.

Ingredient notes

Dry mix

• Almond flour (fine, blanched) – the body. 2 cups or 200 g.
• Coconut flour – super absorbent, gives structure without carbs. 2 tbsp or 16 g.
• Baking powder – lift. 2 tsp.
• Pumpkin pie spice – 2½ tsp. If you don’t have it, use 2 tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp nutmeg, ¼ tsp ginger, tiny pinch clove.
• Salt – ¼ tsp to wake flavors up.

Wet mix

• Pumpkin purée (plain, not pie filling) – 1 cup or 240 g.
• Eggs – 4 large, room temp if you can.
• Granulated erythritol or allulose – ¾ cup or 150 g. I like allulose for softer crumb.
• Melted butter – ½ cup or 113 g. Ghee works too.
• Heavy cream – ¼ cup or 60 ml, for extra tenderness.
• Vanilla – 2 tsp.

Cream cheese frosting (for webs + optional base layer)

• Cream cheese – 8 oz or 226 g, full fat, softened.
• Butter – 4 tbsp or 56 g, softened.
• Powdered erythritol or powdered allulose – ½ to ¾ cup (60–90 g), to taste.
• Vanilla – 1 tsp.
• Heavy cream – 1–3 tbsp to thin for piping.

Optional contrast glaze (for high-contrast webs)

• Sugar free dark chocolate chips – ¾ cup or 130 g.
• Heavy cream – ¼ cup or 60 ml.
  This gives you a shiny dark base so the white webs pop. Totally optional. The webs work on bare cupcake tops or on a pale frosting too, they just show brightest on dark.

Tools that help

• 12 cup muffin tin and paper liners
• Two mixing bowls
• Whisk and rubber spatula
• Hand mixer or stand mixer for frosting
• Piping bag with small round tip (Wilton #2–3) or a zip bag with a tiny corner snipped
• Toothpick or skewer for dragging web lines
• Wire rack for cooling

The plan at a glance

• Mix dry, mix wet, fold together.
• Scoop, bake 18–22 min at 350°F (175°C).
• Cool completely.
• Make cream cheese frosting.
• Optionally glaze tops with dark chocolate.
• Pipe thin white circles, drag toothpick to make webs.
• Stand back and accept praise you did not ask for.

Step by step: Making keto Pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese webs

 

1) Heat and prep

Set oven to 350°F (175°C). Line muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Grease the liners lightly if yours tend to stick.

2) Dry bowl

Whisk almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, pumpkin spice, and salt until no clumps.

3) Wet bowl

Whisk pumpkin purée, eggs, sweetener, melted butter, cream, and vanilla. The batter should be smooth and a bit thick. If your sweetener is erythritol, stir a bit longer so it starts to dissolve.

4) Combine

Pour wet into dry. Fold with a spatula until just blended. Don’t beat. Almond flour batters don’t need heavy mixing.

5) Scoop and bake

Divide batter evenly in the 12 cups. Bake 18–22 minutes. Start checking at 18. A toothpick should come out mostly clean with a tiny crumb. Overbaking dries almond flour fast, so watch them close.

6) Cool
Let cupcakes sit in the pan 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack. They must be fully cool before decorating, web icing will melt if you rush. I always say “no warm cupcakes” out loud like a weirdo so I remember.

Make the cream cheese frosting (two textures)

You’ll use most of the frosting as a base or a crumb coat, and a small portion thinned for the web lines.

• Beat softened cream cheese and butter until fluffy and smooth, about 2 minutes.
• Add powdered sweetener and vanilla, beat again. Taste. Add more sweetener if you want sweeter.
• Scoop out ¼ cup of this frosting into a small bowl. Thin it with 1–3 tbsp heavy cream, a teaspoon at a time, until it’s pipeable like school glue. This is your web icing.
• Keep the rest thicker for a base layer, unless you’re using the chocolate glaze.

Note on sweeteners
Powdered allulose gives a smoother feel and no cooling aftertaste. Powdered erythritol is easier to find, but can get a slight cool feel. Sift if it’s clumpy.

Optional: Dark chocolate glaze base

This is just for contrast and drama. Totally fine to skip.

• Heat cream until steaming.
• Pour over chocolate chips in a bowl. Wait 2 minutes.
• Stir until smooth. If too thick, add a teaspoon more warm cream.
• Spoon a thin layer over each cooled cupcake. Let set 15–20 minutes until it’s soft-set and not runny.

How to pipe cream cheese spider webs (it’s easy, for real)

There are two simple ways. Choose one.

Method A: Circle and drag (the classic)

• If using a base layer, spread a thin, even layer of thick frosting (or the chocolate glaze) on each cupcake. Smooth tops are nicer for webbing.
• Fill a piping bag with the thinned web icing. Snip a tiny hole.
• Pipe 3–4 concentric circles on top of the cupcake. Think small target.
• Take a toothpick. Drag from the center out to the edge, straight lines, like wheel spokes. Do this 6–8 times around the cupcake. Wipe the toothpick tip now and then.
• Boom. Web.

Method B: Freehand web lines

1. No circles. Pipe straight thin lines like spokes, then connect with little curved lines in between. Messy looks good here. Real webs aren’t perfect, so you can chill.

Tip: If your lines break, the icing is too thick. Add a tiny bit more cream. If they spread too much, it’s too thin. Whisk in a spoon of thick frosting.

Texture, taste and how to know they’re right

• Crumb: moist, tender, a little springy when pressed.
• Top: very light golden at the edges.
• Smell: warm spice and a hint of butter.
• If they sink: batter may have been over mixed, or cupcakes underbaked. Bake 2 minutes more next round, keep your mix gentle.

Sweetener and carb notes

• Allulose bakes softer and browns faster. Erythritol bakes a bit drier and can crisp the top. Both work.
• If using a monk fruit blend, check if it’s erythritol based. Same volume works as written for most popular blends.
• Net carbs per cupcake will vary with brand. With allulose and no chocolate glaze, my batch lands around 3.9–4.6g net carbs each. With glaze, about 5–5.5g. That’s a guide number, not a lab test.

Storage and make ahead

• Room temp: Unfrosted cupcakes keep soft in an airtight box 2 days.
• Fridge: Frosted cupcakes keep 4–5 days in a sealed box. Flavor gets even better by day two honestly.
• Freeze: Unfrosted cupcakes freeze well up to 2 months. Thaw in the fridge, then decorate.
• Do not freeze cream cheese webs already on top. They can weep a little after thaw. If you must, freeze unfrosted and pipe webs the day you serve.

Troubleshooting quick fixes

• Cupcakes feel wet in the center
  Bake 2–4 minutes more. Ovens run hot and cold. If tops are browning too fast, tent loosely with foil.
• Cupcakes are dry
  Pulled too late. Next time, check at 16–18 minutes, and make sure your almond flour is fresh and fine. You can add 1 extra tbsp cream to the batter.
• Web icing splits or looks grainy
  Cream cheese was too cold. Let it soften and beat again, or warm the bowl in your hands 30 seconds and beat smooth.
• Lines won’t hold shape
  Icing is too thin. Whisk in a spoon of thick frosting, try again.
• Lines are jagged
  Hole is too big. Snip a tinier corner or switch to a small round tip.

Flavor twists (still keto)

• Maple pumpkin – add ½ tsp maple extract to the batter.
• Pecan crunch – fold in ½ cup toasted chopped pecans.
• Mocha night – add 1 tsp instant espresso powder to the dry mix, use the chocolate glaze for sure.
• Coconut cream – swap ¼ cup heavy cream for ¼ cup canned coconut cream, top with toasted coconut and do ghostly white webs.
• Chai spice – replace pumpkin spice with chai spice blend. Very cozy.

Gluten free baking tips that matter here

• Weigh when possible. Almond flour can pack into cups differently. 200 g gives you consistent results.
• Coconut flour is strong stuff. Don’t add more than called for unless you like sawdust cupcakes.
• Room temp eggs help the batter blend and rise better. If you forgot, put cold eggs in warm water for 5 minutes.

How to scale the recipe

• 24 cupcakes: Double everything. Bake time is the same per batch.
• Mini cupcakes: Makes about 36 minis. Bake 10–12 minutes. Pipe tiny webs. It’s cute how fast those disappear at parties.
• One 8 inch cake: Bake 25–30 minutes. Web method works the same, circles and drag.

Decorating ideas for the extra festive crowd

• Chocolate base + white webs (high contrast, most dramatic).
• Orange tinted cream cheese base (natural color: a spoon of pumpkin + tiny pinch turmeric) with white webs on top.
• Add tiny sugar free chocolate “spiders.” Pipe a dot and 8 legs with melted chocolate. I know, spiders. But it’s Halloween.

Clean labels and swaps

• Dairy free? Use coconut oil in the batter and a vegan cream cheese for the web icing, plus coconut cream to thin. Texture changes a bit but still good.
• Nut free? Almond flour is the base, so that’s tricky. Sunflower seed flour can sub by weight, but can turn green from baking soda. Add 1 tsp lemon juice to wet mix to help.
• Egg free? Four eggs help structure. Flax eggs give a denser cupcake. If you try it, bake as minis and don’t skip the chocolate glaze for moisture.

Serving ideas

• Serve with hot coffee or an almond milk latte.
• Put each cupcake on a small black paper doily, instant spooky feel.
• A platter with dry ice tucked behind looks like fog rolling by your dessert table. People will think you went hard this year.

What you Should Know

The first time I tested these, I piped the webs too thick, dragged the toothpick, and nothing happened. Looked like a traffic sign not a web. The fix was easy: whisk in little cream, try one swirl on a plate, then switch to cupcakes. After that, webs formed like magic. Don’t be scared to practice on a plate for 30 seconds. Also, the almond flour brand matters. The fine blanched type gives softer crumbs. Save the coarse stuff for breading chicken.

Another thing. If your house smells like pumpkin spice for a full hour, you baked them right. My neighbor said it “smelled like a candle but edible.” She meant that in a good way I think.

Nutrition snapshot (estimate per cupcake)

• Calories: ~220–250
• Fat: ~21 g
• Protein: ~6 g
• Total carbs: ~7–10 g
• Fiber: ~3–4 g
• Net carbs: ~4–6 g depending on glaze and sweetener brand

I’m giving a range because brands vary, and some sweeteners aren’t counted the same way. If you track tight, plug your exact labels into a calculator.

Clean up and leftovers

Cream cheese frosting likes to hang onto bowls. Rinse with warm water first, then wash. Leftover thinned web icing can be kept in a bag in the fridge 3 days. It sets more overnight, so whip in a tsp of cream before piping again.

Quick recap you can follow without thinking

• Mix dry and wet, fold, bake 18–22.
• Beat frosting, thin a small part for webs.
• Optional chocolate glaze for contrast.
• Pipe circles. Drag toothpick.
• Chill 15. Eat two. Hide one for breakfast.

Conclusion

Halloween food doesn’t have to be pure sugar. These cupcakes bring the fun without the crash, and they look way harder than they are. If you make them, tag your photo with something like “cream cheese webs” so we can all see. And if your spider looks more like a blob, say it’s a bat. Works every time.

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