I love cinnamon! These easy cinnamon cupcakes are the perfect ode to my favorite spice. A soft vanilla cupcake swirled with cinnamon sugar and topped with cream cheese frosting. Basically the simplest ever cinnamon roll in cupcake form!
Ingredients
The recipe for these cinnamon cupcakes is split into two parts: the vanilla cupcake base and the cinnamon swirl layered throughout.
For the Vanilla Cupcake Base
To make the soft vanilla cupcake batter used as the base for this recipe, you'll need:
- Butter - unsalted butter, softened at room temperature. You can use salted butter here, but it will have an impact on the overall flavour, leaving a slight saltiness to your cupcakes.
- Sugar - superfine granulated sugar or caster sugar will work in this recipe.
- Eggs - when baking it is best for these to be at room temperature.
- Vanilla extract
- Flour - either all purpose flour or plain flour will work in this recipe.
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt - if using salted butter, leave out the salt in this recipe.
- Sour Cream - if you don't have sour cream, you can substitute with crème fraîche, mascarpone cheese, buttermilk or a DIY buttermilk substitute. If using a homemade buttermilk substitute, I'd recommend using heavy cream as it will be thicker than standard milk based buttermilk substitutes. Note that substitutes will impact the consistency of the batter and may impact the overall bake.
For the Cinnamon Swirl
You only need two ingredients:
- Ground cinnamon
- Light brown sugar - sometimes called muscovado. Firmly packed. You can substitute with dark brown sugar, though this will add extra molasses flavour to the recipe, which may overpower the cinnamon. Alternatively you can use superfine granulated sugar or caster sugar, but light brown sugar really accentuates the cinnamon here and makes for the perfect cupcake.
How to Make Cinnamon Cupcakes
Vanilla Batter
To make these cupcakes with a cinnamon swirl, begin by preheating your oven and lining a cupcake pan with cases.
In a large mixing bowl, you'll whip up your easy vanilla cake base. Start by beating together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Then add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, and the vanilla.
Next add the baking powder, baking soda and salt to your flour. Give this a quick stir and add half of these dry ingredients to your batter. Beat to incorporate.
Add the sour cream and beat to combine. Finally add the remaining flour and beat until just mixed.
Top tip: when your batter is nearly incorporated, swap your beaters for a spatula and stir. This helps you avoid overbeating.
Cinnamon Sugar
The key to this recipe is that it is a brown sugar cinnamon cupcake - the brown sugar adding flavour and texture to the bake.
In a small mixing bowl, stir together your cinnamon and brown sugar.
Since brown sugar is so dense and tends to clump, this is best done with your hands, rubbing the sugar cinnamon mixture together.
Filling the Cupcake Tray
To fill your cupcake cases, begin by dolloping out about half of the vanilla cupcake mixture, dividing as evenly as possible amongst your 12 cupcake cases. I do this using a 1.5 tablespoon OXO Good Grips scoop.
Then top each batter with your cinnamon sugar mixture (about a teaspoon) using about half of the mix.
Using a toothpick or skewer, swirl the batter and sugar mixture together lightly.
Then repeat, dividing the remaining batter out amongst the 12 cupcake cases, topped with the remaining cinnamon sugar. Give each a quick swirl with the toothpick.
Bake in your preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Then remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes in the tray before carefully removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Frosting and Decorating
Once your cupcakes have cooled, frost with a quick cream cheese frosting and a dusting of ground cinnamon. I have a full guide to making an Easy Cream Cheese Frosting with Spreadable Cream Cheese.
Alternatively, you can also use a standard vanilla buttercream or cinnamon buttercream.
FAQs
There is no single answer here! You can pair your cinnamon cupcakes with many different frostings. My favourite for these vanilla cinnamon swirl cupcakes is a quick cream cheese frosting.
Other options that would work as frosting for cinnamon cupcakes include vanilla buttercream, cinnamon buttercream or even dulce de leche buttercream.
These light and fluffy vanilla cupcakes with brown sugar cinnamon swirl will keep well for about 4 days at room temperature if stored in an airtight container.
If frosted with cream cheese buttercream, they should be stored in the refrigerator to preserve the frosting. This will make them go stale more quickly. Therefore, if planning to make in advance, I would recommend waiting to frost until nearer the time of serving.
Yes! These cinnamon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting can be frozen easily. Once cooled and frosted, place on a lined freezer safe tray and freeze for a couple of hours until solid. Then transfer to a freezer safe bag or other container for more efficient freezer storage.
These can be kept in the freezer for about 3 months. Allow to defrost in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
If freezing, dust with any additional ground cinnamon after defrosting.
Looking for more cinnamon inspiration? Try:
Cinnamon Cupcakes
Ingredients
Ingredients for Vanilla Cupcake Batter
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened at room temperature
- 1 cup superfine granulated sugar or caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1⅔ cup all purpose flour or plain flour
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup sour cream
Ingredients for Cinnamon Sugar Swirl
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup light brown sugar muscovado, firmly packed
Ingredients for Frosting and Decoration
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened at room temperature
- 1½ cup powdered sugar or icing sugar, sifted
- 3 tablespoon spreadable cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ground cinnamon for dusting
Instructions
Instructions for Vanilla Cupcake Batter
- Preheat an oven to 350°F (175C/155C Fan) and line a 12-hole cupcake pan with cases.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Then add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, followed by the vanilla extract.
- Add the baking powder, baking soda and salt to the flour and stir together. Add half of this to the batter and beat to combine.
- Add the sour cream and beat until smooth, followed by the remaining flour mixture, beating until just incorporated. Set aside while preparing the cinnamon sugar mixture.
Instructions for Cinnamon Sugar Layer
- Stir together the cinnamon and brown sugar.
Instructions for Filling Cupcake Cases
- Dollop half of the vanilla batter into the cupcake cases. Then top with cinnamon sugar, using about half of the cinnamon mixture.
- Use a toothpick or a skewer to swirl these together in each of the cupcake cases.
- Divide the remaining batter evenly across the 12 cupcakes and top with the remaining cinnamon sugar. Give each a swirl with the toothpick again.
- Bake in the centre of a pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes in the pan before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Instructions for Frosting and Decoration
- Once cool, frost with cream cheese frosting. To make the frosting, simply beat the butter and sifted powdered sugar until combined. Add the cream cheese and vanilla and beat until smooth. For full instructions, see my dedicated post on Cream Cheese Frosting.
- Finish the cupcakes with a dusting of ground cinnamon.
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