Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prep your cupcake tray with cupcake liners and spray with nonstick spray if necessary.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and 2 tbsp of the cinnamon and set it aside.

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.

Crack the eggs in a separate bowl or measuring cup first, then incorporate into the butter one by one. Add in the vanilla extract.

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.

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

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.

Bake the cupcakes at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Take out from the pan and let them cool to the touch.

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.

Frost and decorate the cupcakes however you like once they are at room temperature.