These Biscoff cookie butter cupcakes highlight one of my favorite sweet ingredients - cookie butter. Lightly spiced vanilla cupcakes filled with speculoos cookie butter, topped with cookie butter frosting, cookie butter drizzle and a Lotus Biscoff cookie. These cupcakes are so indulgent and so, so good, you will want to make these ALL the time.
Cookie butter is all the rage these days, popping up in baking recipes all over the globe. And for good reason. Cookie butter is so delicious and lends itself well to cookies, cakes and cupcakes, brownies, ice cream and more. Check out my Cookie Butter Cookies and Cherry Swirl Cheesecake Bars for other delicious ways to use Biscoff cookies and cookie butter.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- This vanilla cupcake is tender, soft and fluffy lightly spiced with cinnamon and filled with melty soft and creamy cookie butter.
- Cookie butter frosting is out-of-this-world. The buttercream is whipped to make it light, fluffy and smooth.
- Easy to follow recipe with step by step photo instructions for perfect Biscoff cookie butter cupcakes every time.
Ingredient Notes
These are some of the key ingredients for this recipe. For a full list of ingredients and quantities, check out the recipe card below.
Cake flour - lends to a softer, more tender cupcake
Unsalted butter - room temperature
Milk - preferably whole milk, room temperature
Eggs - room temperature
Canola oil - or vegetable oil
Cookie butter - I used Biscoff cookie butter, but other brands will work as well.
Lotus Biscoff cookies - or, speculoos cookies
Recipe Instructions
Before starting the recipe, preheat the oven to 350F and line a cupcake pan with paper cupcake liners. For this recipe, you will need a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or an electric hand mixer. You will also need a piping bag and a star piping tip, or alternatively, you can use an offset spatula or butter knife.
Cupcake Recipe
- Make the cupcakes. Whisk together the egg, egg white, canola oil and vanilla.
- Combine the cake flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on low to combine.
- Add the softened butter to the flour mixture.
- Beat in butter on low speed until its blended into the flour mixture. It should resemble coarse crumbs.
- Beat in the milk on low speed until thoroughly combined. Turn the speed up to medium and beat for a full 90 seconds until lightened and whipped.
- Beat in the egg/oil mixture in two parts, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl after each addition.
- Divide the batter amongst the cupcake liners.
- Bake for 16-19 minutes until a few most crumbs stick to a toothpick inserted into the center and the tops spring back when touched.
Frosting Recipe
- Prepare the frosting. In a bowl, combine the butter, confectioners sugar, milk, vanilla and salt.
- Beat on low until combined. Turn the speed up to medium and beat for 5-6 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Beat in the cookie butter.
- Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large star piping tip.
Cupcake Assembly
- Core the cupcakes by cutting a cone shape out of the center of the cupcakes. Fill with melted cookie butter.
- Pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes.
- Drizzle with melted cookie butter.
- Garnish with cookie crumbs and a Biscoff cookie.
Baking Tips
- Avoid coring the cupcakes all the way down to the bottom of the cupcake so that the filling doesn't spill out once the wrapper is taken off. You can use a cupcake corer or a small paring knife.
- Make sure to use room temperature ingredients. Using cold butter, eggs or milk could leave you with split batter and frosting.
- Whole fat milk works best for baking. It has a higher fat content that lends more moisture to the cupcakes.
- Use a scale to make these cupcakes for the best results. Weighing ingredients is both accurate and consistent.
Storage and Freezing
Cupcakes are best and retain the most moisture the day they are baked. I rarely recommend baking cupcakes in advance (unless they're oil-based), especially if you don't have to, because they can dry out easily. Assembled cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Frosting can be made in advance, stored in an airtight container and frozen, for up to 3 months. Defrost the frosting in the refrigerator overnight, then leave out on the counter to come to room temperature. Rewhip the buttercream to bring it back to its fluffy texture. Rewhipping frosting that is too cold can cause it to separate.
If you need to freeze them, as soon as they're cooled, place them in an airtight container in a single layer. Wrap the container with Press and Seal or cling wrap, then wrap in foil. Defrost the cupcakes overnight in the refrigerator, still wrapped.
Substitutions and Variations
- Replace the cookie butter with a crunchy or flavored cookie butter, such as chocolate or pumpkin spice.
- Spiced nut butters will also be good substitutes for cookie butter.
- Use apple spice or pumpkin spice in place of cinnamon for a seasonal twist.
Recipe FAQs
Cookie butter is a spread, similar in consistency to peanut butter, made from speculoos cookies, or Belgian spice cookies. It's absolutely delicious. The spread is creamy and silky, sweet, caramel-ly and filled with warm spices. Lotus Biscoff is the most widely known brand, but Trader Joe's also sells a popular version of cookie butter.
This was one of the first questions I got as asked as soon as I posted this recipe. There isn't cookie butter in the cupcake recipe for two reasons.
One, there's a quite a lot of cookie butter in this recipe as it is. I found that adding cookie butter to the cupcake recipe made the assembled cupcake a bit too heavy and too sweet.
Two, using cookie butter in the cupcake recipe would require not one but two jars of cookie butter, which can be pretty pricy.
There are lots of different cookie butters out there on the market. There's ones that have chocolate. There are cereal and candy butters. I've even seen pumpkin spice cookie butters. Feel free to experiment and use your favorites for this recipe.
More Cupcake Recipes to Try
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Recipe
Biscoff Cookie Butter Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 ½ cups cake flour
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg white
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup whole milk
Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 cups confectioners sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk or cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅔ cup cookie butter
Assembly
- ½ cup cookie butter, melted and cooled
- Lotus Biscoff cookies, for garnish
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and mix on low speed for a minute to combine.1 ½ cups cake flour, ¾ cup granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- With the mixer still running, add in the softened butter pieces. Mix on low speed until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- In a measuring cup, whisk together the egg, egg white, canola oil and vanilla.1 large egg, 1 large egg white, 2 tablespoons canola oil, 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- With the mixer still on low, slowly pour in the milk, mixing JUST until the flour mixture is moistened. You may not use all the milk at this time. Pour any remaining milk into the measuring cup with the eggs and oil, and whisk to combine.½ cup whole milk
- Turn the mixer speed to medium and whip for a full 90 seconds. The mixture should be whipped up, thick, and lighter in color.
- Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is properly mixed. With the mixer speed on low, add the egg/oil/remaining milk mixture in two additions, scraping down the bowl after each addition has been mixed in.
- Once all the wet ingredients have been added, give the bowl a final scrape and mix with a spatula. Divide the batter evenly between the liners, filling them about ⅔ full.
- Bake the cupcakes for 16-19 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with few moist crumbs when inserted in the center of the cupcake. Don't over bake.
- Place the baked cupcakes on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes. Carefully remove the hot cupcakes from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
Biscoff Cookie Butter Frosting
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, confectioner's sugar, milk, vanilla and salt on low speed for 1 minute to combine. Turn the speed up to medium and beat for 5-6 minutes until very light and fluffy.1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, 3 cups confectioners sugar, 2 tablespoons milk or cream, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- Beat in the cookie butter, scraping down the bowl with a spatula to ensure everything is well combined.⅔ cup cookie butter
- Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with a large piping tip.
Assembly
- Using a sharp knife, cut a hole into the center of the cooled cupcakes to create a space for the cookie butter. The piece you removed will be the shape of a cone.
- Spoon the melted cookie butter inside each cored cupcake. Fill the cupcake with the filling to the top, about a heaping teaspoon full. Slice off the pointy end of the cone piece you removed so that the top of it can fit on top of the filling, like a cap. Place on top of the filling.½ cup cookie butter, melted and cooled
- Generously pipe or spread the buttercream onto the cupcakes. Top with a Biscoff cookie crumbs and a cookie.Lotus Biscoff cookies, for garnish
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