Let’s talk Coffee Cake.
Many many years ago, people started to realize that eating sweet cakes with their morning coffee was a pretty amazing way to start the day. And honestly, they were not wrong. The Coffee Cake trend caught on and different countries and cultures all started to put their own spin on it.
Fast forward to today, and Americans have taken this sweet treat trend and really run with it. Think doughnuts, french toast, cinnamon rolls, poptarts – the list goes on and on. We LOVE our breakfast sweets.
And in my opinion, one of the best is still the classic American style Coffee Cake.
But instead of making the traditional slab cake, I decided to put all the best parts of a Coffee Cake and into a cupcake.
With Valentine’s Day coming up, cupcakes seemed like a much easier way for people to spread the love than going through the effort of slicing everyone a piece of cake. And I can assure you, nothing makes someone feel more loved and appreciated than a homemade baked good – especially if you add a note on top that says “I hate you the least”!
I used this heart punch to cut out some hearts and then just glued little notes on them. Then I taped the hearts onto a standard toothpick and stuck them in the cupcakes. The easiest and cutest cupcake toppers ever!
Obviously these cupcakes are also great without the little love notes on top. But I think the toppers add a little something special!
COFFEE CAKE CUPCAKES
Ingredients
FILLING
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (100g)
- 3/4 cup pecans, chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
COFFEE CAKE CUPCAKE
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (375g)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/2 cups sugar (300g)
- 3/4 cup butter, room temperature (170g)
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups sour cream (360ml)
GLAZE
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter (56g)
- 2 cups powdered sugar (240g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3-4 tablespoons of milk
Instructions
COFFEE CAKE CUPCAKES
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake/muffin tin with paper liners.
- Prepare the filling. Mix brown sugar, pecans and cinnamon together. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, combine butter and sugar. Mix on a medium speed for about 2 minutes, or until fully combined.
- Add eggs and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
- Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix until just combined.
- Slowly fold in the sour cream.
- Pour about 1 tablespoon of batter at the bottom of each paper liner. Using a spoon, spread the batter to completely cover the bottom of the liner.
- Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of filling over the muffin batter.
- Place another heaping tablespoon of batter into the paper liner over the filling. If necessary, use a spoon so spread batter to cover filling.
- Sprinkle another teaspoon of filling on top.
- Bake for 18-24 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Take the muffins out and set aside to cool.
- While the muffins are cooling, make the glaze. Place powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook until the butter is slightly brown and gives off a nutty aroma.
- Add butter to the bowl of powdered sugar. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the pan and get all the tiny brown bits.
- Add vanilla extract and whisk it all together.
- Add milk. Whisk until you get desired consistency.
- Once muffins are cooled, drizzle the glaze over the muffins.
