These rich cupcakes, topped with vanilla buttercream frosting, have a gooey cinnamon roll filling that will leave you wanting cupcakes for breakfast every morning! These are an absolutely perfect treat for a breakfast party or a brunch!
(makes 24 cupcakes)
INGREDIENTS:
- One boxed yellow cake mix (with oil, water and eggs to make according to package)
- 1 c. heavy whipping cream
- 2 T. ground cinnamon
- 6 T. packed brown sugar
- 3 1/2 c. powdered sugar (divided)
- 2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temp
- 2 sticks of salted butter, room temp
- 2 T. clear vanilla flavoring
DIRECTIONS:
- Make your filling first so it can cool while your cupcakes bake.
- Place whipping cream, cinnamon and brown sugar in a large saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Set aside to cool (you can place this into the refrigerator if you want to speed the cooling process along.)
- Make 24 cupcakes according to the directions on whatever box mix you choose to use. (I like Duncan Hines)
- Use a small paring knife to cut a small cone out of the top of each cupcake.
- Finish the filling by adding 1/2 cup of powdered sugar to the (cooled!) cinnamon/brown sugar/cream mixture.
- Beat on medium speed until well combined and creamy.
- Place filling in a zip-top bag, clip a corner and pipe filling into each of the cone-shaped holes on the top of each cupcake. You should have some filling left at the end- set this aside to drizzle on the top after frosting.
- Make your buttercream frosting by placing all 4 sticks of (softened) butter, 3 cups of powdered sugar and the vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beating on high until very light and fluffy.
- Clip a corner of a zip top bag, place a decorating tip in the corner, fill the bag with frosting, zip it shut and pipe frosting over cupcakes, covering up the filling (check out this video if you need help piping frosting).
- Drizzle the remaining filling over the top of each cupcake and sprinkle each with just a little cinnamon.
These cupcakes are best served shortly after they are made (like cinnamon rolls are!) If you need to make them in advance, keep them refrigerated (because of the cream filling). Be sure to let the cupcakes come to room temperature before you serve them or your buttercream will be hard.
My thoughts: You know when restaurants indicate on a menu that a dish is one of their signature dishes and *hint hint* you should try it? This is one of those recipes for this blog. These are one of my very favorite creations thus far. Now, I have to qualify that with this: I LOVE cinnamon rolls- especially big gooey ones, and I love frostings and fillings. These cupcakes have gotten rave reviews with everyone I know. The only negative comments I’ve heard have been from people who say there’s too much frosting/filling. If you are the sort that scrapes frosting off things anyway, my recommendation is to cut the frosting recipe in half. As for me…bring on the gooey sweet happiness!!! I really REALLY hope you get a chance to try these –if you do, let me know what you think! Enjoy! -r
9-24-12 I’m adding to this post because my friend Megan just told me about a really cool time-saver—a cupcake corer!!! (honestly, what will they think of next….!) I just ordered it and I’ll let you know what I think. If you want to check it out yourself click here: Cupcake Corer
EASYBAKED 
These cupcakes are sheer Perfection! They melt in your mouth! Delightful filling and the Frosting is ‘to die for’!
Thanks for being one of my taste testers Jeanne- I’m so glad you liked them!!!!
I am one of those lucky co-workers that Ruthanne shares experiments with, and I can say that these are the BEST cupcakes I have EVER had! Rue – you are a genious!
Aww…thanks Mary! *hug* I’m lucky to have friends that are willing to try all my experiments 🙂
I LOVE your recipes, but do you know the calories in them all?
Lol- this comment made me laugh– are you referring to the 4 sticks of butter used to make the frosting on these?? 😉 I have been a calorie counter for many years and I don’t even bother when it comes to desserts. A lot. There are a lot of calories in these desserts- if you are counting calories and trying to lose weight I’d say save these recipes for special occasions and celebrations when calories don’t really count 😉
Just checking …4 tablespoons of cinnamon?
Actually- I just made these cupcakes for a second time and changed the recipe. The full amount of filling was just too much, so I cut it in half. The proportions of cinnamon are the same though– it’s a lot of cinnamon, but its soooo yummy! 🙂
I made them today for a fundraiser and they were a huge hit. My “piping” skills and tools are non-existent so I just smeared it on (with great care, of course!). Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
Smearing frosting on with great care is perfectly acceptable!! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them!
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These sound so good! =)
Im going to save the recipe, and make them soon.
Since the filling is made with so much heavy cream, do they have to be refrigerated?
Technically, I will say yes. To be safe, you should refrigerate these cupcakes. Did I refrigerate them? No. They are were all eaten within 24 hours of baking them–except for one that a friend saved for 5 days and ate yesterday. She said it tasted great (and she feels fine- lol!) This buttercream frosting is just so yummy at room temp that I didn’t refrigerate them in spite of the filling. I’d suggest making them just before you need them or refrigerating until you serve them. I will add that to the recipe– thanks!!
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what weight is a stick? what is in the cake mix?
i love cinnamon too, but for US-outsiders your recipes are not very clear and need more info..
would love to try, can you write for us too?
Thanks!
I struggle in the opposite direction when I use recipes from outside the US 🙂 That crazy metric system! I usually just google what I need to convert- for example click here for a conversion from sticks of butter to grams (looks like 1 stick of butter is 113.4 grams, for example) I always have to do the same for oven temps too. I google a lot when I bake with recipes from other countries– but I’ve learned a lot! In this recipe, you can use whatever cake recipe you’d normally use to make 24 vanilla cupcakes. I use cake mixes a lot to simplify the recipes, but MANY people message me saying they prefer to make cake from scratch- which works great too. I’m sorry that not all of my recipes are world-wide friendly. Any time I create one with brown sugar in it I’m sad for all my Eastern European friends that cannot get brown sugar– I actually try to bring it with me for them when I visit 😉 Hope this helps and I hope you get a chance to try these out!! -r
Hi there, again!
Substitute for brown sugar (if you want to include them in your future recipes) is for every 1 cup of sugar it’s 1 1/2 tbsp of molasses for light brown sugar and 3 tbsp molasses for dark brown sugar 🙂
Thank you SO much for this great tip– this will be a big help for our European friends who can’t get brown sugar!!!
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I made them it is a wonderful recipe!
Thanks for sending me a picture Noel– you really did such a nice job on them– loved the piped frosting! I will be thinking of you eating them in the morning for breakfast….and I will be jealous! 😉
Also, a little tip for filling cupcakes:
Use an apple corer to cut the holes in them instead of a knife. You get uniform cut every time, and the piece of cake you remove comes out perfectly intact!
Great idea— thanks so much for sharing it with us!!!