These Harry Potter Butterbeer Cupcakes will cast a spell on your taste buds and leave you in a state of geeky bliss! Loaded with delicious flavors of toffee, butterscotch, caramel, and vanilla.
It’s that time of year again! Every December, Matt and I have a Harry Potter marathon, I don’t even remember how long we’ve been doing it, but I always try to bake up something delicious for us to enjoy with it!
Last year I made these Butterbeer Pudding Cookies and they’ve been one of my most popular recipes to date! We’ve made them over and over again, tried different variations and I even made them for a wedding in September! One reader is commented that the cookies “smell like unicorns,” here’s to hoping these cupcakes are just as good!
Personally, I think they’re freakin’ amazing and might just be the best cupcakes I’ve ever made, they taste like french toast and butterbeer had a baby! See, now you really want one!
Fun Ways To Dress Up Your Cupcakes!
These cupcakes are light and fluffy with toffee bits throughout that make for a nice little punch of flavor. Then they’re dipped in a rich butterscotch sauce and finished with a whipped butterbeer frosting and some lightning bolt sprinkles.
I know there’s a fair amount of people who don’t like to use flavoring or extracts, but please be aware that the imitation butter flavor is KEY in this recipe and CANNOT just be replaced with melted butter. You can find the imitation butter extract in the baking aisle with other flavorings, extracts, and food colors.
So Harry Potter lovers, are you guys excited for the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie? I know I am, anything to keep the Harry Potter universe alive, right? The trailer comes out next week and I’m pretty pumped, especially because I adore Eddie Redmayne and know he’s going to do an amazing job!
Also, have you guys picked up a copy of the new Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Illustrated Edition? It’s absolutely gorgeous and I can’t wait to start collecting the books all over again!
I purchased the Harry Potter cupcake liners on Etsy and put them on over the two regular liners so the sauce wouldn’t make them all nasty. They are made out of copied book pages, and as a book lover, they were just too perfect.
The lightning bolt sprinkles used in the photos are no longer made, but you can find some similar ones here. You could also top the cupcakes with sugar lightning bolts. Or buy Harry Potter Chocolate Molds To Top Your Cupcakes With!
More Harry Potter Creations!
- Butterbeer No Bake Cookies
- Harry Potter Butterbeer Pancakes
- Harry Potter Party
- Harry Potter Quidditch Jersey Tutorial
- Harry Potter’s Butterbeer Fudge
- His & Hers Harry Potter Mugs
- Golden Snitch Truffles
- Hogwarts House Crest Ornaments
- Harry Potter DIY Golden Snitch Ornament
- Butterbeer Poke Cake
- Amortentia Love Potion
Harry Potter Butterbeer Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon imitation butter extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup cream soda
- 1 cup Heath Toffee Bits not the ones with chocolate
Sauce:
- 3/4 cup butterscotch chips
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
Frosting:
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1/3 cup butterscotch instant pudding mix dry
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tsp imitation butter extract
Toppings:
Instructions
Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line cupcake pan with liners.
- Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized bowl and stir with a whisk until well mixed and smooth.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat together the eggs, oil, extracts, and buttermilk.
- Beat in the dry ingredients and the cream soda, alternating between the two until batter is smooth.
- Mix in the toffee bits.
- Add 1/4 cup batter to each cupcake liner and bake for 18-22 minutes.
- Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool. Bake remaining cupcakes.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce by placing the butterscotch chips in a small metal bowl and heating the heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Bring cream to a simmer, then pour it over the butterscotch chips. Let set for 3-4 minutes.
- After time has passed, whisk cream and chips together until a rich sauce forms. Transfer to the fridge to cool and thicken for about 30 minutes.
- Prepare frosting by combining all ingredients in a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachments and beat on medium-high for about 3-4 minutes until a light and fluffy frosting forms. Transfer frosting to a pastry frosting bag or to a dessert decorating tool.
- Remove sauce from the fridge, roll out a piece of wax paper on a flat surface, dip the tops of the cupcakes in the sauce and place on the wax paper and let set for 15 minutes.
- Place each cupcake in a second liner to cover up the stickiness.
- Pipe frosting onto the cupcakes and finish with sprinkles.
Diane Lewis says
Have you tried these as mini cupcakes before?
Also – I want to make part(s) of these in advance, as the day of the party I don’t have time to do a lot of baking or prep. I assume I can make and freeze the cupcakes ahead of time – does everything else have to be done the day of? The day before? What do you recommend?
Kristen says
I just wanted you to know that I made this recipe for our family dessert competition. This year the “secret ingredient” was butterscotch and I was up against my siblings and my parents (4 entries in all) and we won with these DELICIOUS cupcakes! I used the same presentation and everything from your pictures. Thanks again for the delicious recipe and helping me win our bake-off!
Rebecca says
I used a large star tip!
Kathie says
I haven’t tasted the cupcakes yet, but I have no doubt they will be delicious. My question is, what decorating tip did you use? My frosting didn’t look as good as yours on the cupcakes.
Rhiannon says
I made an “Aussie version” as I don’t have access to some of the ingredients!
Turned out great. Might have some left for the party tonight if I stop eating them…
Rebecca says
Yay, Serene! I’m so glad your family loved them! I have no doubt you’ll love the pancakes too!
Serene @ House of Yumm says
Hey Rebecca! I just made these for my daughters birthday. They were wonderful!! I loved everything about them 🙂 so did all the kids!! I had some of the butterscotch cream left after dipping the cupcakes and added maybe a tablespoon to the frosting for an extra little bit of flavor. I’m thinking next we need to try those pancakes!
Rebecca says
Hey Brytney, I’ve never done the grass tip myself with my whipped cream/pudding frostings, but a friend did and said it worked. I’m sure you could get it to be green, it’s a light golden color so there’s no reason it should turn black. Enjoy!
Brytney says
I pinned your recipe awhile back and planned on trying it eventually. My son’s first birthday is coming up and I’ve been looking for a yummy recipe for cupcakes and then I remembered your recipe! It’s a bit more involved than I’m used to so I will probably be doing a trial run. :p I have a couple questions… Is the frosting consistency thick enough to hold its shape if I use a “grass” tip? And since the frosting has a tan/brown color, in your opinion, do you think it would be possible to make the frosting green? Or do you think it would just end up almost black looking? I can’t wait to taste these!!
Rebecca says
Hi Kane, I’m so glad you loved these cupcakes, isn’t the frosting just amazing, I could eat it by itself!
Kane says
I just made these today and can attest that these really are amazing! The cupcakes themselves are delicious, and then the frosting really brings everything together perfectly!
Polly Matthews says
Thank you!!
Rebecca says
I haven’t, but I would think with a 13×9 pan, it should turn out okay!
Polly Matthews says
Have you ever made a cake using the same recipe?? I’m wanting to make a 9×13 but was worried that it may not stretch far enough?? Thank you!
Kayla says
How did the recipe turn out for you? And which shop did you find the imitation butter in? Another Aussie here ?