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    Home » Desserts » Coffee Cake Cupcakes

    May 29, 2020 · Modified: Jan 24, 2022 by Sues · This post may contain affiliate links, uses cookies, and generates income via ads · View privacy policy + disclosure statement linked in footer · 2 Comments

    Coffee Cake Cupcakes

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    There's never a bad time for a slice of coffee cake and the same is also true for these Coffee Cake Cupcakes. With a sweet cinnamon swirl, lots of cinnamon frosting, and a crumb topping, you can't be blamed if you eat one of these cupcakes for breakfast!

    Head-on close-up view of a coffee cake cupcake with cinnamon swirl, cinnamon frosting and crumb topping with recipe title at top.

    Are there any totally "random" foods you find yourself craving all the time? I have a couple and they include meatball subs and coffee cake. Very random, right? I'm not sure what it is about them, but those two foods just always sound delicious to me no matter the circumstances.

    My coffee cake craving was at an all-time high a couple weeks ago and so I sat down to decide what kind I wanted to make. Then I determined that coffee cake would be so much more delicious if it involved buttercream frosting. So, I did what any person with common sense would do and I made coffee cake with frosting. But in cupcake form.

    These coffee cake cupcakes are obviously a dessert as most cupcakes are. But I'm not going to pretend they aren't absolutely delicious with a cup of coffee as a mid-morning breakfast. Just saying!

    Why You'll Love This Recipe

    If you're a fan of coffee cake, you'll likely love these cupcakes! They do involve a few steps, but aside from the cinnamon frosting, they're not any more work than coffee cake.

    Make these if you crave coffee cake at all hours of the day, but think it would be just a tiny bit more satisfying with buttercream frosting slathered onto it.

    Ingredients

    The cupcakes involve a few components, but the ingredients are pretty basic and lots of them are repeated from component to component. You might already have all of them in your kitchen as we speak! Here's what you need...

    For the cupcakes:

    • All-purpose flour
    • Baking powder
    • Ground cinnamon
    • Salt
    • Unsalted butter
    • Granulated sugar
    • Eggs
    • Vanilla extract
    • Whole milk

    For the cinnamon swirl:

    • Granulated sugar
    • Ground cinnamon

    For the cinnamon buttercream frosting:

    • Unsalted butter
    • Confectioners' sugar
    • Whole milk
    • Vanilla extract
    • Ground cinnamon
    • Salt

    And for the crumb topping:

    • All-purpose flour
    • Granulated sugar
    • Ground cinnamon
    • Unsalted butter

    How to Make Coffee Cake Cupcakes

    These are pretty standard cupcakes and easy to make!

    First you'll make the cupcake batter. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 papers. Then, 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 the milk. Mix in each addition until just incorporated.

    Overhead view of bowl of cupcake batter with spatula.

    You'll be layering the cupcake batter with the cinnamon swirl mixture, so once the batter is made, mix together the cinnamon/sugar mixture, too. That's literally all it is... Cinnamon and sugar!

    Now, fill cupcake liners about ⅓ of the way with cupcake batter. Then evenly divide cinnamon swirl mixture across batter in each cupcake paper. You might feel like you have too much of it, but I promise you don't.

    Cupcake papers with batter topped with cinnamon sugar

    Top each cupcake with remaining batter. Cupcake papers should be filled about ¾ of the way.

    Cupcake papers filled with batter

    Bake cupcakes for 17-20 minutes, until edges are golden and tester comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes before removing to racks to cool completely.

    Cupcakes cooling on baking rack

    How to Make Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

    While the coffee cake cupcakes are cooling, you can make the cinnamon frosting. It's a simple buttercream frosting, but packed with cinnamon flavor.

    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 milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt and blend until combined.

    Overhead view of cinnamon buttercream frosting in mixing bowl

    How to Make Crumb Topping

    The crumb topping isn't totally necessary, but I like that it makes these coffee cake cupcakes a little more coffee cake-like. It's another simple mixture of flour, sugar, and cinnamon. 

    Then you'll take 1 Tbsp of room temperature butter and using a fork or your fingers, you'll cut the butter into dry mixture, until small clumps form.

    Overhead view of crumb topping in bowl

    Once the cupcakes are cooled, you can frost them (I used a Wilton 1M tip) and sprinkle some of the crumble topping over each of them.

    And then pour yourself a cup of coffee (or milk if you prefer) and take a huge bite of one of these coffee cake cupcakes.

    Head-on landscape view of multiple coffee cake cupcakes on a pink and gold marble tray surrounded by crumb topping.

    These cupcakes are fully, and I mean FULLY, packed with cinnamon flavor. As any good coffee cake should be, really. From the cake to the swirl to the frosting to the crumble, the cinnamon is large and in charge.

    Is there anything better than a cinnamon swirl?? Maybe buttercream frosting? I guess it's possible that buttercream frosting is better than a cinnamon swirl... I really can't decide.

    Overhead view of a coffee cake cupcake cut in half with cinnamon swirl and buttercream frosting visible.

    Luckily I don't have to because I get to experience it all with these coffee cake cupcakes.

    More Cupcake Recipes

    I clearly have a thing for cupcakes (who doesn't??)

    • Funfetti Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
    • Rainbow Sherbet Cupcakes
    • Root Beer Float Cupcakes
    • Lemon Blackberry Cupcakes
    • Red Wine Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Filling
    • Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes
    • Confetti Cupcakes with Champagne Custard Filling
    • Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes
    • Guinness Cupcakes
    • Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry Cupcakes
    • Sweet Tea Vodka Cupcakes
    • Rainbow Cupcakes (from Life Made Simple)

    Did I eat one of these for breakfast on a gloomy Tuesday morning? You'll never know. But if you know anything about me, I think you probably know the answer to that.

    Head-on close-up view of a coffee cake cupcake with cinnamon swirl, cinnamon frosting and crumb topping.

    What odd food cravings do you get most often?

    If you prefer your coffee cake in cake form, try my Funfetti Coffee Cake. Want to try it in donut form? Try my Baked Apple Coffee Cake Doughnuts. Next up, I can't wait to try this Hazelnut Coffee Cake from Rainbow in my Kitchen!

    Head-on close-up view of a coffee cake cupcake with cinnamon swirl, cinnamon frosting and crumb topping.

    Coffee Cake Cupcakes

    There's never a bad time for a slice of coffee cake and the same is also true for these Coffee Cake Cupcakes. With a sweet cinnamon swirl, lots of cinnamon frosting, and a crumb topping, you can't be blamed if you eat one of these cupcakes for breakfast!
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Dessert
    Cuisine: American
    Keyword: Cinnamon Desserts, Coffee Cake, Cupcake Recipes
    Prep Time: 30 minutes
    Cook Time: 20 minutes
    Makes: 12 cupcakes
    Author: Sues

    Ingredients

    Cupcakes

    • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
    • ½ Tbsp baking powder
    • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
    • ¼ tsp salt
    • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
    • 1 cup granulated sugar
    • 2 large eggs
    • 2 tsp vanilla extract
    • ½ cup whole milk
    • Cinnamon Swirl (recipe below)
    • Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting (recipe below)
    • Crumb Topping (recipe below)

    Cinnamon Swirl

    • ¼ cup granulated sugar
    • 2 tsp ground cinnamon

    Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

    • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
    • 5 cups confectioners' sugar
    • 3 Tbsp whole milk
    • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
    • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
    • ¼ tsp salt

    Crumb Topping

    • 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
    • 1 tsp granulated sugar
    • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
    • 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

    Instructions

    Cupcakes

    • Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 papers.
    • 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 the milk. 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 1M pastry tip) and top them with crumb topping.

    Cinnamon Swirl

    • In a small bowl, mix together granulated sugar and cinnamon.

    Cinnamon 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 milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt and blend until combined.

    Crumb Topping

    • In a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Using a fork or your fingers, cut butter into dry mixture, until small clumps form.

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    Comments

    1. Garret Janicki says

      November 20, 2020 at 4:39 pm

      Really enjoyed the site. Thanks for posting. You got a new fan.

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    1. 7 Classic American Desserts You Need To Try – Big 7 Travel says:
      June 19, 2020 at 4:29 am

      […] 3. Coffee Cupcakes […]

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