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Pancake Cupcakes turn a box of pancake and baking mix into fluffy, maple sweetened cupcakes studded with mini chocolate chips and piped with a whipped maple buttercream that tastes exactly like Sunday morning. I baked a batch on a *lazy Saturday* and Maddie declared them breakfast and dessert at the same time, which is technically correct. They sit right beside my mimosa cupcakes in the brunch dessert hall of fame.
Fluffy chocolate chip pancake flavor in cupcake form, crowned with real maple buttercream.
Pancake Cupcakes Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 10 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 15 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 25 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 11 cupcakes
- ⚡ Calories: 541kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Sweet maple and vanilla with melty mini chocolate chips
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, on par with my funfetti cupcakes
Quick Answer
Whisk milk, sugar, maple syrup, oil, an egg, and vanilla until smooth, then whisk in pancake and baking mix until no lumps remain and stir in mini chocolate chips. Portion 3 tablespoons of batter into 11 lined cupcake wells and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 to 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely, then frost with buttercream whipped from butter, powdered sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, and a splash of cream.
Jump to:
- Pancake Cupcakes Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make Pancake Cupcakes
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- Pancake Cupcakes FAQs
- Other Recommended Cupcake Recipes
- Pancake Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Pancake mix is a pre balanced batter base. The mix already contains flour, leavening, and salt calibrated for tender results, so the cupcakes rise light and fluffy with zero measuring of dry ingredients.
- Real maple syrup flavors both layers. Syrup goes in the batter and the buttercream, so the pancake flavor runs all the way through instead of sitting only in the frosting.
- Oil keeps the crumb moist. Vegetable oil stays liquid at room temperature, keeping these tender for days, the same trick used in the best boxed cakes.
- Mini chips distribute evenly. Mini chocolate chips are light enough to stay suspended in the batter instead of sinking, so every bite gets chocolate like a good chocolate chip pancake.
- Three tablespoons per liner is the magic portion. It fills each cup just right for a level dome that can hold a tall swirl of frosting without spilling over.
- The three minute whip makes the frosting fluffy. Whipping the finished maple buttercream on medium high aerates it into a light, pipeable cloud instead of a dense glaze.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- They genuinely taste like chocolate chip pancakes with syrup, in a frosted, portable package.
- The batter is one bowl and one whisk, no mixer needed until frosting time.
- The maple buttercream whips up just like the frosting on my spice cupcakes, light, fluffy, and dangerously spoonable.
Key Ingredients
A pancake breakfast shopping list that bakes into dessert.
- Pancake and baking mix: The base. It brings pre balanced flour, leavening, and salt for a foolproof fluffy crumb.
- Maple syrup: The signature. Real syrup flavors both the batter and the buttercream.
- Mini chocolate chips: The pancake move. Minis stay suspended in the batter so every bite gets chocolate.
- Vegetable oil: The moisture. It keeps the cupcakes tender for days.
- Unsalted butter: The frosting base. A full cup whips into a light maple cloud.
- Powdered sugar: The structure. Sifted, it makes the buttercream smooth enough for tall swirls.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
One pancake batter, a whole diner menu of spins.
- Swap the mini chocolate chips for fresh blueberries for a blueberry pancake version.
- Add a pinch of cinnamon to the batter for a cozy diner style flavor.
- Crumble crispy bacon over the frosting for a sweet and salty brunch showstopper.
- If breakfast flavors in dessert form are your thing, my red velvet pancakes flip the idea in the other direction.
- Skip the frosting and serve them warm with a drizzle of maple syrup as pancake muffins.
How to Make Pancake Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cupcake tin with 11 liners. In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, sugar, maple syrup, oil, egg, and vanilla until smooth.
- Add the pancake and baking mix and whisk until the batter is combined with no lumps.
- Stir in the mini chocolate chips until they are evenly distributed through the batter.
- The finished batter should be pourable but thick enough to hold the chips in suspension, like a rich pancake batter.
- Add 3 tablespoons of batter to each liner. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire rack to cool completely. Meanwhile, cream the butter, add the powdered sugar a little at a time, then the maple syrup, vanilla, salt, and cream, and whip for 3 minutes. Pipe onto the cooled cupcakes and serve.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Whisk the wet ingredients first. Fully blending the egg, oil, and syrup before the mix goes in prevents overworking the batter.
- Do not overmix once the baking mix is in. Stop at smooth, overmixing makes pancake based crumbs tough.
- Use mini chips, not regular. Full size chips sink to the bottom of the light batter.
- Cool completely before frosting. Maple buttercream is soft by nature and melts fast on warm cupcakes.
- Sift the powdered sugar. It keeps the frosting silky so the swirls pipe clean.
- Chill the frosted cupcakes 10 minutes before serving. It sets the swirl so it holds through the party.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
Set them out with my mimosa cupcakes for a brunch dessert board.
My Dr Pepper cupcakes bring a soda fountain twist to the same party tray.
For a classic birthday pick, my lemon cupcakes balance all that maple sweetness.
And my American buttercream guide covers every frosting question these might raise.
Pancake Cupcakes FAQs
Pancake cupcakes taste like a stack of chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup, in cupcake form. The pancake mix base gives them a slightly denser, breakfast style crumb than a standard cake, the mini chips melt into little chocolate pockets, and the maple buttercream delivers the syrup moment. They are sweet enough for dessert but absolutely at home on a brunch table.
Yes, and it works beautifully because pancake mix already contains flour, leavening, and salt in balanced amounts. You just add richer wet ingredients, milk, egg, oil, sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla, so the batter bakes up like a cupcake instead of a flat pancake. Any complete pancake and baking mix works in these pancake cupcakes.
Store frosted pancake cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, since the buttercream contains cream. Let them sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving so the frosting softens back to fluffy. Unfrosted cupcakes keep at room temperature for 2 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Overmixing is almost always the culprit. Pancake mix develops gluten quickly, so whisk just until the lumps disappear and then stop. An overfilled liner can also bake up heavy in the center. Stick to 3 tablespoons of batter per cup and pull them the moment a toothpick comes out clean.
Absolutely. The base batter is a blank pancake canvas, leave them plain for pure maple flavor, or swap in fresh blueberries, chopped pecans, or a swirl of cinnamon sugar. Fold in any add in gently at the end, and keep pieces small so they stay suspended in the batter the way the mini chips do.
Maple buttercream is the natural match, real maple syrup whipped into butter and powdered sugar tastes exactly like the syrup pour on a pancake stack. Cinnamon cream cheese frosting is a close second for a cinnamon roll vibe, and a simple vanilla buttercream with a maple drizzle on top splits the difference beautifully.
Made these pancake cupcakes? Leave a comment and a star rating below, and tell me if they showed up at breakfast or dessert, no judgment either way!
My snickerdoodle cupcakes pull the same trick with cinnamon sugar and cream cheese frosting.
When fall rolls around, my pumpkin cupcakes are the seasonal cupcake to beat.
For the holiday version, my pudding filled eggnog cupcakes are the December favorite.
My mini muffin tin baked donut holes run the same sweet breakfast play.
Pancake Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil melted
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 & 1/2 cups Bisquick Original Pancake & Baking Mix
- 3/4 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips
For the maple frosting:
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar sifted
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a cupcake tin with 11 liners and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, sugar, maple syrup, oil, egg, and vanilla until smooth.1/3 cup milk, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup maple syrup, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, 1 large egg, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Add the bisquick and whisk to combine with no lumps.1 & 1/2 cups Bisquick Original Pancake & Baking Mix
- Stir in the chocolate chips until well combined.3/4 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips
- Add 3 tablespoons of batter to each liner.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, take them out and cool completely on a wire rack.
- While the cupcakes cool, make the frosting. In the body of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until smooth.1 cup unsalted butter
- Add the powdered sugar a little at a time until fully incorporated.2 cups powdered sugar
- Stir in the maple syrup, vanilla, and salt. Scrape down the sides.1/2 cup maple syrup, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, pinch of salt
- Add the heavy cream and stir it in. Once it is incorporated, place the mixer on medium-high speed and whip for 3 minutes.2 tablespoons heavy cream
- Frost the cupcakes and serve.
Notes
- Use a cookie scoop for even batter distribution into the cupcake liners.
- For golden brown tops, watch the cupcakes closely as they bake and check with a toothpick.
- Let the cupcakes cool on a wire rack to keep them from getting soggy.
- Mix the frosting well to incorporate as much air as possible for a light and fluffy texture.
- Experiment with adding a tiny bit of different flavors to the frosting like cinnamon or nutmeg.
- Get creative with toppings! The fun part is making each pancake cupcake your own.
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
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I want to lick my screen right now! Yummy. Pinned. Lou Lou Girls
I’ve never thought of making cupcakes with pancake dough. That is brilliant! It would be yummy to do fruit or something like that instead of the chocolate chips.
yummy! Thank you for sharing and for linking up to the Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop. Watch for your feature on Monday xo
What a great idea. I always find it really fun when something traditional is made into a different format… like pancake batter into muffins. Love that! Thanks for sharing!
Dana, these are gorgeous!! Love it. Thank you. Pinning!
Yum! Think I could find an excuse to eat these for breakfast? Whatever you say, I’m planning on doing it anyway!