Coffee Cake Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

It's Sunday, so of course that means cupcakes. I also had a reason to share them rather than just making them and hoping everyone at work eats them. There was so much food here tonight, that only a few of the cupcakes went. I'm sure Dan will eat a few more before bed, but there will still be 10 or so to bring to work tomorrow.

As with most of my recipes today, this had some pre-made items in it that helped save on time. This is a doctored box mix, which have actually been working out well for me lately. It's always funny (and satisfying) when people ask me if I made the frosting from scratch. I always do, I can't remember a time I used a canned frosting. Frosting is so easy to make, especially a basic buttercream. You just need softened unsalted butter and powdered sugar. Add whatever flavoring you want to it. The only things to be wary of is time spent mixing it and it's consistency, which play into each other. Consistency is easy to take care of. I always have at least milk on hand, but if I know I'm going to make cupcakes, I'll usually make sure I have heavy whipping cream on hand as well. If the frosting gets too thick, just add a tablespoon at a time of some milk or cream. If it's too thin because you added too much liquid, just add some more powdered sugar. Today's frosting was interesting. I don't usually like grainy, sugary frostings. You know, the ones where you can feel the sugar as you eat it. This one has brown sugar in it, which gives it a thicker texture and you can feel the brown sugar crystals in the frosting, but I really liked it. I think it's because it added to the overall taste, and it wasn't just a plain old grainy frosting.

What would I change about this recipe? I would add the streusel to the top of cupcake before baking rather than putting it in the bottom of the cupcakes. Because there's butter in the streusel, it caused the bottoms to be soaked in butter. It was still good, but I don't know. Then again, if I out streusel on the top, I wouldn't have the smooth tops to dip into the cinnamon and sugar, making it the snickerdoodle part. Hmmmm....

Also, today was a sad day in the kitchen. I finally broke my frosting gun to the point of no return. I had already cracked the large coupler, and broke the thumb rest on the handle, but it was still usable. Today, the pump part actually broke. Time for a new one. I find the guns so much easier than using a pastry bag. They can be a hassle to fill the barrels of the guns sometimes, but it makes frosting everything quicker and cleaner for me. These cupcakes were really good. You can taste the coffee cake flavor to them, and the frosting just gave a nice texture with the brown sugar and the cinnamon flavor.

Coffee Cake Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
from Beyond Frosting

For the streusel:
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
3 tsp. cinnamon

For the cake:
1 box yellow/vanilla cake mix
1 (3.4 oz) package vanilla pudding mix
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup light sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the topping:
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

For the frosting:
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup light brown sugar
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 muffin pans.
2. To make the streusel, melt the butter. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and flour. Add the butter and mix with a fork or pastry cutter until crumbly. Set aside.
3. To make the cake: In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the cake mix and pudding mix together. Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure each is mixed before adding the next.
4. Add the milk, oil, sour cream and vanilla and beat on medium until well combined. Scrape down the sides with a spatula to be sure you get all the batter off the sides and up from the bottom. Since you start with dry ingredients and the eggs, the batter was very thick. I found it really stuck to the sides and bottom and needed a good scraping, so don't skip this step!
5. Pour a heaping teaspoon of streusel into each cupcake liner. Top with a big spoonful (about 3 tbsp) of batter. Bake for 18-24 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely.
6. For the topping, combine the sugar and cinnamon on a small plate. Melt the butter. Brush the tops of each cupcake with the butter and roll in the sugar mix.
7. For the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the brown sugar and beat until combined.
8. Slowly add the powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. When I do this, I turn the mixer down to low when I add it, and then turn to to medium when it won't splatter around.
9. Continue to beat on medium speed and add the cinnamon.
10. Add the cream and vanilla last, and increase speed to high. Frost cupcakes.