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Biscoff Cupcakes are what happens when that little airline cookie grows up and gets famous, a brown sugar cinnamon cupcake with cookie butter baked right into the batter, crowned with a towering swirl of cookie butter frosting, and the batch I made on a Friday night had Maddie negotiating for seconds before the frosting set. If you loved our coconut cupcakes, this is their caramelized cousin.
There is cookie butter in the cake, cookie butter in the frosting, and cookie crumbs on top, we do not do subtle here.
Biscoff Cupcakes Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 30 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 22 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 52 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 12 cupcakes
- ⚡ Calories: 494kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Caramelized Speculoos spice with brown sugar and cinnamon warmth
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, same skill level as our funfetti cupcakes
Quick Answer
Beat softened butter with brown sugar and 2 tablespoons of cookie butter until creamy, add vanilla and three eggs one at a time, then gently fold in a whisked mixture of flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda. Divide the batter between 12 liners, filling each two thirds full, and bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 22 minutes. Cool completely, then frost with butter beaten with powdered sugar, a full cup of cookie butter, and a splash of milk, and finish with melted cookie butter and Speculoos crumbs.
Jump to:
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Cookie butter goes in the batter, not just on top. Two tablespoons creamed with the butter perfume the whole crumb with caramelized Speculoos flavor from the first bite.
- Brown sugar matches the Biscoff profile. Its molasses warmth echoes the caramelized cookies, where plain white sugar would fight them.
- A pinch of cinnamon amplifies the cookies. Speculoos are spice cookies at heart, the cinnamon in the batter makes the cookie butter taste even more like itself.
- Eggs go in one at a time. Each egg emulsifies fully before the next, keeping the batter silky and the baked crumb tender instead of dense.
- Gentle folding keeps them fluffy. Once the flour goes in, folding just to combined protects the air you creamed in, that is the light crumb under all that frosting.
- A full cup of cookie butter makes the frosting. Beaten with butter and powdered sugar it whips into a pipeable frosting that tastes intensely of Biscoff, not vaguely of it.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Triple cookie butter, in the batter, whipped into the frosting, and drizzled on top.
- The batter mixes with a hand mixer and one bowl each for wet and dry, no fancy equipment.
- That bakery style frosting swirl looks impressive but pipes as easily as our lemon cupcakes.
Key Ingredients
One jar of cookie butter powers the whole show.
- Cookie butter: Two tablespoons in the batter, a full cup in the frosting, plus melted drizzle for garnish. Biscoff and Trader Joes Speculoos both work beautifully.
- Brown sugar: The molasses note that makes the cupcake taste caramelized like the cookies themselves.
- Unsalted butter: Softened for both the batter and the frosting, its the creamy backbone of each.
- Cinnamon: A quarter teaspoon sharpens the Speculoos spice without turning it into a snickerdoodle.
- Powdered sugar and milk: Sifted sugar whips the frosting fluffy, and a tablespoon or two of milk brings it to perfect piping consistency.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
More ways to spend a jar of cookie butter.
- Core the cooled cupcakes and spoon in a teaspoon of cookie butter for a molten surprise center.
- Press a whole Speculoos cookie into the frosting swirl on each cupcake for the full bakery look.
- Add a pinch of espresso powder to the batter, coffee and cookie butter are best friends.
- Swap the cookie butter frosting for cream cheese frosting if you like a tangy contrast with the spiced cake.
- For a rainbow version of the same tender crumb, our funfetti cupcakes are the party answer.
How to Make Biscoff Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 12 count cupcake pan with liners. Add the softened butter, brown sugar, and cookie butter to a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric hand mixer until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the vanilla and the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until fully combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and gently fold together until just combined, then divide the batter between the 12 liners, filling each about two thirds full. Bake 18 to 22 minutes, until a skewer poked into a center cupcake comes out clean. Rest in the pan 10 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.
- For the frosting, beat the softened butter in a large bowl, sift in the powdered sugar, and mix until combined and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the cookie butter and milk and beat until smooth, fluffy, and pipeable. Pipe or spread onto the cooled cupcakes, then finish with a drizzle of melted cookie butter and crushed Speculoos cookies if you like.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Soften the butter properly for both jobs. It should dent with light pressure, too cold and the batter turns lumpy, too melted and the frosting slumps.
- Use room temperature eggs. They blend into the creamed mixture without breaking it, which keeps the crumb even.
- Stop folding at just combined. A few streaks disappearing is the moment to stop, overmixing bakes out the fluff.
- Fill liners two thirds, no more. This batter rises confidently, overfilled cups mushroom over the pan.
- Cool completely before frosting. Even slightly warm cakes melt the cookie butter frosting into a slide.
- Warm the garnish cookie butter 15 seconds. It drizzles in thin ribbons instead of blobs, instant bakery finish.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
These are the birthday order for the person who always grabs the Biscoff at coffee shops, and they hold their own on a party spread next to our coconut cupcakes for a two flavor cupcake stand.
For a dessert table with range, add our angel food cupcakes on the light end and these on the rich end, every guest finds their lane.
Coffee pairing is mandatory, the Speculoos spice was born for espresso, and a plate of our coffee cake cookies alongside makes it a full coffee break spread.
Store frosted cupcakes in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days or refrigerated up to 4, letting them sit out 20 minutes before serving so the frosting softens. Unfrosted cupcakes freeze up to 2 months, thaw and frost fresh.
Biscoff Cupcakes FAQs
They are brown sugar cinnamon cupcakes with Biscoff cookie butter baked into the batter, topped with a whipped cookie butter frosting and finished with melted cookie butter and Speculoos cookie crumbs. Every layer tastes like the caramelized European spice cookies the spread is made from.
Biscoff is the brand name of the original Lotus Speculoos cookie and its spread, while cookie butter is the generic term for any spread made from crushed Speculoos style cookies. Any smooth cookie butter works in these cupcakes, Biscoff and Trader Joes are the two we reach for.
Usually overmixing after the flour went in or butter that was too cold to cream properly. Beat the butter, sugar, and cookie butter a full 3 minutes until genuinely fluffy, then switch to gentle folding the moment the dry ingredients hit the bowl.
Beat three quarters of a cup of softened butter, sift in the powdered sugar and beat until fluffy, then add a full cup of cookie butter and a tablespoon or two of milk and beat until smooth and pipeable. It should hold its shape when spooned, add milk a teaspoon at a time if it feels stiff.
They keep fine in an airtight container at room temperature for about 2 days, and up to 4 days refrigerated. The fridge firms the frosting, so let them sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving to bring back the fluffy texture.
The unfrosted cupcakes freeze beautifully for up to 2 months, wrapped individually and bagged. Thaw at room temperature, then frost fresh, the cookie butter frosting also freezes in a container and rewhips after thawing with a splash of milk.
Made these Biscoff Cupcakes? Leave a comment and a star rating below, and confess how much cookie butter went straight from jar to spoon!
For a bright fruity contrast to cookie butter, try our lemon blueberry cupcakes.
Biscoff Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp cookie butter
- 3 medium eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 & ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
For the cookie butter frosting:
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 & 1/3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 cup cookie butter
- 1-2 tablespoons milk
- melted cookie butter garnish, optional
- crumbled Speculoos cookies garnish, optional
Instructions
Make the cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and prep a 12-count cupcake pan with liners.
- Add the butter, sugar, and cookie butter to a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes.2/3 cup unsalted butter softened, ¾ cup brown sugar, 2 tbsp cookie butter
- Add the vanilla and the eggs one by one, beating after each addition until combined.3 medium eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder and baking soda.1 & ¼ cups all-purpose flour, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda
- Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients and gently fold together until just combined.
- Distribute the cupcake mixture between your 12 cupcake cases. Each should be approx. 2/3 of the way full.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a skewer poked into the center of a cake comes out clean.
- Leave in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the cookie butter frosting:
- Add the butter to a large mixing bowl and sift in the powdered sugar. Mix with an electric hand mixer, mix until combined and fluffy, 3 minutes.¾ cup unsalted butter, 1 & 1/3 cups powdered sugar
- Add the cookie butter and milk and beat again until smooth and fluffy. The frosting should be spreadable but still hold its shape when spooned out of the bowl.1 cup cookie butter, 1-2 tablespoons milk
Assemble the cupcakes:
- Spread or pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes. I used a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M nozzle to pipe swirls on top.
- Decorate each cupcake with a drizzle of melted cookie butter and some Speculoos cookie crumbs if desired.melted cookie butter, crumbled Speculoos cookies
Notes
- For the fluffiest cupcakes, use room temperature ingredients.
- A piping bag with a star nozzle creates professional-looking frosting swirls.
- Adding a piece of cupcake on top of the frosting with a dollop of Biscoff spread makes for an eye-catching decoration.
- For best results, mix the cupcake batter on medium speed to incorporate air without overmixing.
- Experiment with different brands of cookie butter for varying depths of Biscoff flavor.
Nutrition
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