French Toast Cupcakes
I’m so excited to share this French Toast Cupcakes recipe with you. This is a light cinnamony cupcake with a hidden crumbly streusel under a light maple buttercream frosting. I needed a maple buttercream frosting for a friend, and I immediately starting thinking about buttery maple syrup and French Toast. I may have been hungry at the time. Well, I didn’t have a tried and true recipe for maple buttercream frosting so it was game on!
First I created my version of maple buttercream frosting that holds it shape when piped. Then, because I bake for my local rescue mission and needed some cupcakes for that Tuesday, I took the creative liberty of paring my new and improved maple buttercream frosting with what I thought would be delicious…wait for it…you know what’s coming…French Toast cupcakes, of course.
Doesn’t everyone love maple syrup on their French Toast?
I started thinking about cinnamon and nutmeg, and oh! …then I was thinking about melted butter, which made me think of streusel, which would also give a cupcake a little crumbly-crunch. I was getting happy just thinking about it, so poof! my French Toast Cupcakes were born.
Making Streusel
For streusel it’s relevant to remember that the butter needs to be cold to keep the mixture crumbly. Therefore, after you make the streusel using cold butter, put the mixture back into the refrigerator until you need it again.
So to start, mix your dry ingredients together (brown sugar, sugar, flour, and cinnamon), in a bowl.
Get out your COLD butter and cut it into smaller sizes, then “cut” it into the dry ingredients.
What that means is using two steak knives like scissors (this doesn’t work with real scissors, trust me) until the butter has been mixed with the dry ingredients, but the mixture is still crumbly.
Spoiler Alert
I’m Old School. I realize there are gadgets and food processors out there that probably do the same thing, but why have gadgets when I already have 2 steak knives that work just fine? Here’s what mine looked like before and after:
Let There Be Cupcakes
With the streusel made and back in the frig, it’s time to make the cupcakes.
Personally, I like cake mixes, I think they’re great and I love how inexpensive they are, plus they make my life easy. Still, there are times, like now, that I want to put my own little spin on them.
So, for my French Toast Cupcakes I added a little cinnamon, nutmeg, and an extra splash of vanilla into a Yellow cake mix (along with the water, oil and eggs from the box), then filled my 24 cupcake liners with the batter.
Next, I added about a tablespoon of the streusel on top, then baked them as directed on the box.
Making Maple Buttercream Frosting
Start with your softened butter. Yeah yeah, I know…first I want it cold, then I want it softened. Make up my mind already!
But no, really, beat the softened butter until smooth and creamy.
I tend to alternate my wet and dry ingredients, mostly so my very old and beloved Sunbeam Mixmaster doesn’t have to work too hard.
While adding your ingredients, keep scraping the sides of your bowl until all frosting ingredients are mixed.
Let it mix on high for a few minutes to really blend everything together and to let the heavy cream do it’s magic. The frosting will get light and fluffy.
For more dessert recipes, check these out:
- Chewy Gooey Walnut Brownies
- Chunky Peanut Butter Brownie Bars
- No Bake Lemon Blueberry Dessert
- Sugar Cookie Lemonade Crumble
French Toast Cupcakes
Ingredients
Streusel
- 1/2 cup All-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup Brown sugar, packed
- 1 Tbsp. Sugar
- 1 tsp. Cinnamon
- 5 Tbsp. Salted butter, cold and cut into chunks
Cupcakes
- 1 box Yellow cake mix, plus water, oil, eggs as listed on box
- 1 tsp. Vanilla
- 2 tsp. Cinnamon
- 1 tsp. Nutmeg
Maple Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup (2 sticks) Salted butter, softened
- 4 cups Confectioners' sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
- 4 Tbsp. Heavy cream
- 1 Tbsp. Maple syrup
- 1 Tbsp. Wilton's Meringue Powder, optional
Instructions
- Make the streusel: Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl (brown sugar, sugar, flour, and cinnamon). Add the cold chunked butter and "cut" in using 2 steak knives or a food processor. Once butter is mixed in, but still crumbly, set in refrigerator until ready to use.
- Make the cupcakes: Mix the Yellow cake mix with ingredients listed on the box (water, oil, and eggs). Add the vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Divide batter evenly into 24 cupcake liners.
- Add the streusel on top of the cupcake batter, (approx. 1 Tbsp. each). Bake cupcakes according to instructions on cake mix box. Cool cupcakes completely before frosting them.
- Make the frosting: Beat the softened butter on medium-high until smooth and creamy. Add half of the confectioners' sugar, half of the heavy cream, scraping the sides often. Add the rest of the ingredients and allow to beat on high for a few minutes to thoroughly blend the ingredients and to let the frosting get light and fluffy.
- Pipe or spread your maple buttercream frosting on top of your cooled cupcakes for the full French Toast Cupcake experience. Enjoy!
Nutrition
In Conclusion
I wish I could say what my favorite part of these French Toast Cupcakes are. It seems the light cupcake with the crumbly streusel topped with a smooth creamy frosting is such a compliment of textures, but maybe it’s the cinnamon and lightly maple syrup riding just over the buttery streusel that is most noteworthy.
Most of all, I sincerely hope you love these French Toast Cupcakes as much as I do.
Also, I topped them with a half/half mixture of sugar and cinnamon, which is optional. So have a happy blessed day and thank you for stopping by.
Here are a few pictures that are a perfect size for your Pinterest board.
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