Cinnamon-sugar swirled vanilla cupcakes topped with creamy cinnamon and vanilla frosting.
Pure, simple, and loaded with cinnamon-sugar, snickerdoodle cookies will always be a family favorite.I’m pretty sure cinnamon-sugar runs throughall our veins!
So how about a cupcake recipe including all of that wonderful flavor? It’s doable. And delicious. Ladies and gents, welcome to my snickerdoodle cupcakes with cinnamon swirl frosting!
I wasn’t shy about loading cinny-swirls inside these snickerdoodles cupcakes. Cinnamon peeking through the edges, cinnamon-sugar dusted on top, a mountain of cinnamon-swirl frosting, and a mini snickerdoodle cookie to finish it all off. Go grab a tall glass of milk because you’ll need it to get through this post!
Today’s recipe is a fine example that show-stopping desserts don’t have to be difficult or challenging! You can impress everyone with a simple recipe and a little creativity. Seriously… how can you resist THESE?
Making today’s cupcakes is so easy, you’ll feel like you did something wrong.
There are 3 parts to these snickerdoodle cupcakes:
- Cinnamon-Swirled Vanilla Cupcakes
- Cinnamon & Vanilla Swirled Frosting
- Mini Snickerdoodles for decor
1) First, the cupcake batter. Veryeasy. It’s mixed together in minutes! You don’t even need an electric mixer. Simply melt butter, whisk it with some sugar, 1 egg, vanilla extract, yogurt, and milk. Yep, I used protein-packed Greek yogurt in these cupcakes. Not a lot, only a little to make them extra moist. You can use sour cream instead if it’s easier.
The assembly: Spoon 2 Tablespoons of cupcake batter into 12 cupcake liners. Then, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon-sugar. Top with more cupcake batter and 1 more teaspoon of cinnamon-sugar. Some of the cinnamon-sugar layer from the center may peek out on the top. Here is what my cupcakes looked like before baking:
By the way, we similarly layer cinnamon and brown sugar goodness in these banana chocolate chip streusel muffins. Another must-try for my fellow cinnamon-sugar lovers!
Now it’s time to bake the snickerdoodle cupcakes. And then smell the cinnamon goodness wafting through your entire kitchen. The smell of these cupcakes is pure bliss!
2) The frosting. These snickerdoodle cupcakes are so gosh darn amazing, that you don’t even need frosting. But let’s be serious. I had the opportunity to make cinnamon frosting, so clearly cinnamon frosting is what I did…!
You can’t really tell from the photos, but the frosting I used to top these cupcakes is two-toned. First, I madevanilla frosting. Then I transferred half of the frosting to a separate bowl and beat 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon into it. Cinnamon + vanilla in one. I could eat this swirly frosting all day and be set for life.
Here is exactly how I swirled the two frostings together. I simply filled my piping bag with half of the cinnamon frosting and half of the vanilla frosting. I used a Wilton 1M tip to frost, but any piping tip would work. If you do not have a frosting piping bag + tip, no worries! You can frost the two frostings however you’d like on top of the snickerdoodle cupcakes. Or just use all vanilla frosting or all cinnamon frosting.
3) And last but not least, a little decor for your Snickerdoodle Cupcakes.Mini snickerdoodle cookies. Whip up a batch of my soft and thick snickerdoodles (a 20 minute recipe) and make them into mini cookies, which is about 2 teaspoons of cookie dough per cookie. Bake them for 7 minutes. This is optional!
So there ya go. A mini snickerdoodle cookie for your easy snickerdoodle cupcakes. 🙂 You could also decorate the cupcakes with a cinnamon stick, white chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips, sliced almonds, a drizzle of caramel sauce, a banana slice, apple slice, etc. Anything that goes with cinnamon. (Which is everything.)
Enjoy your new favorite cupcakes!
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- Author: Sally
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 12 cupcakes
- Category: Cupcakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
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Description
Cinnamon-sugar swirled vanilla cupcakes topped with creamy cinnamon and vanilla frosting.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 and 2/3 cups (209g) all-purpose flour ()
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter
- 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) granulated sugar, divided
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60g) yogurt or sour cream, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup (180ml) milk, at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Cinnamon-Swirl Frosting
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3–4 cups (360-480g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1/4 cup (60ml) heavy cream or half-and-half*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- salt, to taste
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 12 snickerdoodles, mini size(read above for how to make them mini-sized)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- In a medium bowl, whiskflour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt butter in the microwave. Whisk in 1 cup of sugar. The mixture will be gritty. Let it rest for a couple minutes to slightly cool down. Stir in egg, yogurt, milk, and vanilla extract until combined. Slowly mix in dry ingredients until no lumps remain. Batter will be thick.
- In a small bowl, mix the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon together. Set aside. Spoon 2 scant Tablespoons of cupcake batter into each cupcake liner. Top with 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Top with 1 heaping Tablespoon of cupcake batter, until the cupcake linersare about 3/4 full. Some of the cinnamon-sugar filling from the center layer may peek through the top layer of batter. Top each cupcake with 1 more teaspoon of the cinnamon-sugar.
- Bake the cupcakes for 19-21 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
- For the frosting:With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat butter on highspeed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add confectioners’ sugar, cream, and vanilla extract. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then switchto high speed and beat for 3 full minutes. Add more confectioners’ sugar if frosting is too thin or more cream if the frosting is too thick. Taste the frosting and add salt if frosting is too sweet (I like to add 1/4 teaspoon). Remove half of the frosting from the mixing bowl and transfer to a smaller mixing bowl. Beat1 Tablespoon of cinnamon into half of the frosting.
- To swirl the frosting, spoon half cinnamon frosting into the piping bag and half vanilla frosting into the piping bag. See above for a visual. Pipe onto cupcakes. I used a Wilton 1M swirl tip.If you do not have a piping bag and tip, simply frost the cupcakes with both the vanilla and cinnamon frostings. There may be leftover frosting depending how much you use on each cupcake.
- Store cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days and in the refrigerator up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Cupcakescanbe made ahead 1 day in advance, covered, and stored at room temperature. Frostingcanalso be made 1 day in advance, covered, and stored in the refrigerator until ready to use. Frosted or unfrosted cupcakescanbe frozen up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
- Special Tools (affiliate links):12-cup Muffin Pan | Cupcake Liners | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Piping Bag (Reusable or Disposable) | Wilton 1M Piping Tip | Cupcake Carrier (for storage)
- Cream:For the cream in the frosting, you can use milk instead. However, the consistency of the frosting will not be as creamy.
- Be sure to check out my10 tips for baking the BEST cupcakesbefore you begin!
