If you're a Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal lover, you will be obsessed with these Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes! From the cake to the frosting, these easy-to-make baked goods are absolutely packed with the iconic cereal and tons of sweet cinnamon flavor.
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Some cereals just lend themselves so well to being incorporated into desserts. Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms are tied for my favorite cereals to bake with and it's been far too long since I've used the sweet cinnamon cereal in a new recipe.
Enter these Cinnamon Toast Crunch cupcakes. They are absolutely packed with cinnamon flavor and will have any lover of the cereal falling in love.
I think you could even make the argument that they'd be an acceptable breakfast treat. Because you're an adult and you make the rules.
❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
If you enjoy baking with cereal, you need to try these cupcakes! Not only are they incredibly easy to make, but they taste just like Cinnamon Toast Crunch... in cake form.
They incorporate the actual cereal, cereal milk, and an extra ground cinnamon and sugar mixture for a moist cupcake and sweet frosting.
Oh, and I have to mention that these cupcakes would go fabulously with this Starbucks copycat Cinnamon Crumble Frappuccino recipe!
🗒 Ingredients
These cupcakes require pretty simple ingredients, plus Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal and extra cinnamon!
Here's everything you need (be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):
- Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal
- Whole milk
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Ground cinnamon
- Salt
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Large eggs
- Vanilla extract
And for the sweet cinnamon frosting:
- Unsalted butter
- Confectioners' sugar
- Cereal milk (leftover from the cupcake recipe)
- Vanilla extract
- Ground cinnamon
- Salt
- Crushed Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
🧁 How to make Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes
They're super easy to make and start off with you making a little bowl of cereal milk. In my opinion, this step is very important as it infuses the cereal flavor right into the cupcakes!
Pour ¾ cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal into a small bowl and add milk.
Stir and put in fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes.
Don't eat it. Pour yourself a separate bowl if you need to.
Right before using, strain the cereal from the liquid, pressing down on cereal with wooden spoon to extract as much liquid as possible.
Look at that delicious cinnamon sugar milk!
Now, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and put cupcake papers into a 12-cavity cupcake tin.
And make the cinnamon sugar mixture. This will go in between layers of cupcake batter, creating a sweet cinnamon swirl.
Just mix together granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
Onto making the Cinnamon Toast Crunch cupcakes!
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together butter and sugar on medium-high speed until it's light and fluffy, which should take about 3 minutes.
Add the eggs in one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract.
With the mixer on low speed, beat in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with ½ cup of the strained cereal milk (you should have some leftover for the frosting).
Mix in each addition until just incorporated, taking care not to over-mix.
Fill the prepared cupcake pan about ⅓ of the way with batter.
Then, evenly divide the cinnamon swirl mixture over the batter in each cupcake paper.
Top with remaining batter. Cupcake papers should be filled about ¾ of the way.
Bake the cupcakes for 17-20 minutes, until edges are golden and tester comes out clean.
Let cupcakes cool in pan for a few minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
You'll want them to be completely cooled before you frost them.
🥣 How to make Cinnamon Toast Crunch frosting
And I highly recommend making this Cinnamon Toast Crunch frosting to top the cupcakes with. It's super easy!
I make it with the leftover cereal milk from the cupcakes, but also add in finely crushed cereal for extra Cinnamon Toast Crunch flavor!
In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter until creamy.
With the mixer on low, slowly blend in the confectioners' sugar, cup by cup until it's well-combined.
Mix in the leftover cereal milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt and blend until combined.
Fold in crushed Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
I use a Wilton 1A pastry tip to frost the cooled cupcakes, but you can add on the frosting however you want.
I also highly recommend topping them with Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal pieces and/or crumbs.
Of course, I use both!
And omg these cupcakes are everything I dreamed about in my childhood. And still dream about today.
Instead of simply tasting like cinnamon and sugar, they actually taste like Cinnamon Toast Crunch since the cereal is in the cupcakes in the form of cereal milk in the cake and frosting, crushed in the frosting, and on top of the cupcakes.
⏲️ How to store
I recommend storing these cupcakes in an airtight container. You can keep them at room temperature for 2-3 days as long as they're stored properly.
If you want to keep them for longer, I recommend storing them in the fridge. They should be good for about a week, but my dry out a bit in the fridge.
🍫 Can I make these with Chocolate Cinnamon Toast Crunch?
I usually include an entire section in each recipe post with ideas for making variations on the recipe, including other ingredients you can add to it and how to make it your own.
But honestly? I can't think of anything that would make these Cinnamon Toast Crunch cupcakes any better.
However, you can certainly make these cupcakes with Chocolate Cinnamon Toast Crunch. If you do this, I also think it would be delicious to add cocoa powder to the cupcake recipe. And maybe to the frosting, too.
You can also make these little treats with Churro Cinnamon Toast Crunch if you want!
🍦 More Cinnamon Toast Crunch recipes
As one of my all-time favorite cereals, I have no shortage of Cinnamon Toast Crunch recipes on my blog!
Here are some of my favorites, but be sure to check out all my recipes with cereal:
I'm also obsessed with this Cinnamon Toast Crunch Pie!
Not only will these cupcakes bring back the nostalgic flavors of your childhood, but they'll also be a big hit with kids today!
I hope Cinnamon Toast Crunch cupcakes become must-make baked goods in your home!
What cereal do you think would make the best cupcake flavor?
📖 Recipe
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Cinnamon Swirl (recipe below)
- Cinnamon Toast Crunch Buttercream (recipe below)
Cinnamon Sugar Swirl
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter room temperature
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar
- 2-3 tablespoon cereal milk (leftover from cupcake recipe above)
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup crushed Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal plus more for topping cupcakes if desired
Instructions
- Pour ¾ cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal into a small bowl and add milk. Stir and put in fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes. Right before using, strain cereal from liquid, pressing down on cereal with wooden spoon to extract as much liquid as possible.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and put cupcake papers into a 12-cavity cupcake tin.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream together butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add eggs in one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract.
- With mixer on low speed, beat in dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with ½ cup of the strained cereal milk (you should have some leftover for the frosting). Mix in each addition until just incorporated, taking care not to over-mix.
- Fill cupcake liners about ⅓ of the way with batter. Evenly divide cinnamon swirl mixture across batter in each cupcake paper. Top with remaining batter. Cupcake papers should be filled about ¾ of the way.
- Bake cupcakes for 17-20 minutes, until edges are golden and tester comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool in pan for a few minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
- When cupcakes are cooled, frost them (I used a Wilton 1A pastry tip) and top them with Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal pieces and/or crumbs.
Cinnamon Sugar Swirl
- In a small bowl, mix together granulated sugar and cinnamon.
Cinnamon Toast Crunch Buttercream Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat butter until creamy.
- With mixer on low, slowly blend in the confectioner’s sugar, cup by cup until well-combined. Mix in the cereal milk (leftover from cupcake recipe), vanilla, cinnamon, and salt and blend until combined. Fold in crushed Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
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