Cinnamon Cupcakes are reminiscent of snickerdoodle cookies with their sweet and warm cinnamon sugar. Here it’s swirled and layered into a vanilla cupcake!

For a delicious cupcake, look no further than these cinnamon sugar swirl homemade cupcakes! They’re made with simple ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry and have a delicious cinnamon flavor that’s layered throughout.

This cinnamon cupcake recipe starts with a vanilla cupcake base that gets a cinnamon swirl layered in the cupcake pan with it. They’re pretty reminiscent of a snickerdoodle cookie actually!

That sweet and spicy combination of sugar and cinnamon not only happens in the cupcake batter itself, but then again right in the cupcake pan, and then one more time in the frosting! The cupcake itself is soft (and will last like that for days in an airtight container).

You can frost these cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting, Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting, or simply with sweetened Whipped Cream Frosting.

My personal favorite is with the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting! You can decorate them simply with just a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar on top, or decorate them with, dare I say, a snickerdoodle cookie right on top!

Cupcakes are the perfect size treat for countless occasions. Take them to a friend’s house, a birthday party, make them for a holiday, or simply make them just to have!

These cinnamon cupcakes are just a little bit of a change-up from a regular vanilla cupcake, which makes them super approachable. With a couple of tweaks, here’s a delicious new flavor!

Ingredients

Here’s a breakdown of the ingredients you’ll need to make them:

All-purpose flour – These cupcakes only call for all purpose flour, but if you’d like a softer and even finer crumb, you can sub half the flour for cake flour, but it’s not necessary.

Cinnamon – Here I’m just using ground cinnamon and it gets used in the flour mixture, then swirled into the cupcake batter in the tray, mixed into the frosting, and then sprinkled on top for decoration! I know – layers and layers of cinnamon.

Butter – Make sure to use unsalted, room temperature butter because it will incorporate the best when it's already softened.

Sugar – Granulated white sugar helps to sweeten the cupcakes

Eggs – Make sure to have room temperature eggs as well, not only because they incorporate better, but also so that they don’t change the temperature of the batter.

Milk – A nice big cup of milk gets added to this batter to thin it out and make it perfectly moist!

As for making the frosting, I’ve included the recipe for making Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting, but you can also make a buttercream or whipped cream frosting.

Confectioner’s sugar – Used to sweeten the frosting of course!

Unsalted butter and cream cheese – Makes the frosting nice and creamy.

Vanilla extract – For a bit extra flavor

Cinnamon sugar – Saved from the batter above, mixed directly into the frosting!

How to Bake

Step 1: Prep your cupcake tray with cupcake liners and spray with nonstick spray if necessary.

Step 2: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon

Step 3: In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together with the paddle attachment on medium speed until light and fluffy.

Step 4: Crack the eggs in a separate bowl or measuring cup first, then incorporate them into the mixer one by one. Add in the vanilla extract.

Step 5: Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, adding only 1 cup at a time. Stop mixing once it’s mostly incorporated. Then lastly, pour in the milk and mix one last time until it's fully incorporated, but do not overmix. Take a large mixing spoon at the end to scrape down the sides of the bowl and the bottom to make sure everything is mixed well.

Step 6: In a small bowl, mix together the rest of the sugar and the rest of the cinnamon.

Step 7: To fill the cupcakes, you’ll take the cinnamon sugar mixture and sprinkle a teaspoon of it on the bottom of each cupcake liner. Then, take a tablespoon of batter and drop that in each cupcake. Alternate back and forth with the cinnamon sugar and cupcake batter until the cupcakes are filled almost to the top. Be sure to save enough cinnamon sugar to sprinkle on the top of the cupcakes.

Step 8: Make whichever frosting you choose! From Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting, Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting, or a simple whipped cream.

Step 9: Frost the cupcakes once they've cooled to the touch

FROSTING

Choose your perfect cinnamon frosting recipe to top your cupcake with!

1. cinnamon cream cheese frosting
2. cinnamon buttercream frosting
3. whipped cream frosting

Each uses powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and water, while they vary on whether they use butter, cream cheese, or whipping cream.

Another cinnamon flavored desserts not to miss:

• Cinnamon Rolls

FAQs

How to store leftover cupcakes?

The best way to save leftover cupcakes is in an airtight container. This will prevent your cupcakes from going stale and keep them fresher for longer. They could last up to a week like this. You can choose to either refrigerate the container or keep it on the counter.

What is the nutrition in a cupcake?

There are 301 calories per cinnamon cupcake, 14 grams of fat, 41 grams of carbs, and 4 grams protein.

Print

Cinnamon Cupcakes

Course Dessert

Keyword Cinnamon, Cupcakes, Vanilla Cake

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Servings 24

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 stick unsalted butter room temp
• 1 ¾ cups sugar plus ½ cup
• 4 eggs room temp
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 ¼ cups milk

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• ½ cup butter
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp cinnamon sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prep your cupcake tray with cupcake liners and spray with nonstick spray if necessary.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and 2 tbsp of the cinnamon and set it aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and 1 ¾ cup sugar together with the paddle attachment on medium speed until light and fluffy.
4. Crack the eggs in a separate bowl or measuring cup first, then incorporate into the butter one by one. Add in the vanilla extract.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, adding only 1 cup at a time. Stop mixing once it’s mostly incorporated. Then lastly, pour in the milk and mix one last time until its fully incorporated, but do not overmix. Take a large mixing spoon at the end to scrape down the sides of the bowl and the bottom to make sure everything is mixed well.
6. In a small bowl, mix together the rest of the sugar and the rest of the cinnamon.
7. To fill the cupcakes, you’ll take the cinnamon sugar mixture and sprinkle a teaspoon of it in the bottom of each cupcake liner. Then, take a tablespoon of batter and drop that in each cupcake. Alternate back and forth with the cinnamon sugar and cupcake batter until the cupcakes are filled almost to the top. Be sure to save enough cinnamon sugar to sprinkle the top of the cupcakes.
8. Bake the cupcakes at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Take out from the pan and let them cool to the touch.
9. To make the frosting, beat together the cream cheese and butter at room temperature until smooth. Then beat in the confectioner’s sugar, vanilla extract, and cinnamon sugar until well-combined. Only add the water if you’d like a runnier consistency for the frosting.
10. Frost and decorate the cupcakes however you like once they are at room temperature.