Sooz, I'm not sure at all if the links below will help, but I wondered if they could be a starting point. I know cupcake batter is beaten longer than muffin batter making muffins a bit denser. Muffin and quick bread batters are pretty much the same, and over beating is not what you want. Cupcakes, on the other hand, usually involve creaming butter and sugar for a lighter, fluffier...and often sweeter...result. Anyway, take a look and see what you think.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/93290/easy-pumpkin-muffins/

https://www.duncanhines.com/recipe/carrot-cake-muffins/

Thanks for the info and the links, chloebud! Very helpful!

YW! I wasn't sure and a quick google search brought up the links.

I did some googling before I posted the question, and the info I found was that some websites suggested adding 2 T of flour and 1 tsp baking powder. Sounds familiar, no? I figured someone here might have actually done this in real life, so there would be the T & T aspect :O)

The skiptomylou website posted a pumpkin muffin recipe with 3 ingredients, plus water, that a lot of reviewers said was easy and tasty.

Thanks again!!!

skiptomylou Pumpkin Muffin Recipe

My first reaction to the title was "take out some of the sugar". Since you're making more than two boxes worth, you could add flour. But then you'd have to adjust the leavening, etc. And does one box or the other have egg and the other not? I'd think it would be a heck of a lot easier to make muffins from scratch, with a nice recipe, especially if you want healthy muffins rather than cakey muffins.

Success! I'll have to work on adjusting the light or using a fill-flash (they really are all the same color) on my camera, but these came out tasting awesome! More dense than cake, but not heavy-dense. I like the rustic looking cracked tops, too.

Good flavor, nice little "lift' to the rounded tops! I did add 2 T flour and 1 tsp of baking powder along with eggs, water, and oil. Yum!

You're braver than I! Congrats!

Nice work, sooz!

They look great!

Good point, Martha. Muffins are sometimes glazed, but a mound of frosting might keep them out of the "not as sweet as cupcakes" category, too.

Actually either of those cake mixes baked just as is and unfrosted would make good muffins.

You can make a more dense cake by using milk instead of water so probably just doing that and maybe adding things like nuts and berries etc would make a more like a muffin texture out of a cake mix. And like they said, leave off the frosting.

I use apple sauce rather than oil in my muffins. They turn out nice and moist.