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Butterscotch Cupcakes with Butterscotch Frosting

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Made with butterscotch pudding and chips in the batter, then topped with yummy butterscotch frosting, these Butterscotch Cupcakes are a special treat for butterscotch fans!

butterscotch cupcakes title photo

I think butterscotch is a flavor that tends to get overlooked while its cousin caramel always steals the spotlight.  I enjoy both of them, but today I’m giving butterscotch a little love.  

These Double Butterscotch Cupcakes have butterscotch pudding and chips in the batter, and are topped with butterscotch frosting. Now that’s some serious butterscotch flavor!

overhead shot of butterscotch cupcakes


These butterscotch cupcakes are inspired by my super yummy pistachio cupcakes.  The pudding in the batter not only adds great flavor, but makes the cupcakes so moist and tender. One of the best cupcake bases ever!

The frosting starts with browned butter. If you’ve never tried it, don’t be afraid. Just cook your butter in a saucepan over medium heat for a few minutes. It will start to foam, then turn a light brown color. The only thing you have to be careful of is that you don’t burn it. As soon as it starts to brown, add the other ingredients.

Browned butter adds such a wonderful depth of flavor; I promise it will be worth it!

butterscotch cupcakes on a wood cutting board

Don’t they look yummy? If you love butterscotch, you’ve gotta try ’em!

A few more fantastic cake and cupcake recipes:

BUTTERSCOTCH CUPCAKES

Yield: 20 cupcakes

Butterscotch Cupcakes

Butterscotch Cupcakes with butterscotch frosting. Pudding in the batter gives these cupcakes great flavor, and keeps them moist and delicious!

Made with butterscotch pudding and chips in the batter, then topped with yummy butterscotch frosting, these Butterscotch Cupcakes are a special treat for butterscotch fans!

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 18 minutes
Total Time 48 minutes

Ingredients

Cupcakes

  • 1 3/4 cups flour
  • 1 3.4 oz box instant butterscotch pudding
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup butterscotch chips, roughly chopped
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup oil
  • 1 1/4 cups milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Butterscotch Frosting

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • dash of cinnamon
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1-2 Tbsp milk

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, dry pudding mix, sugar, baking power, salt, and butterscotch chips. In a small bowl whisk together the eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir till just combined. Pour into 20 paper lined muffin cups.
  2. Bake at 375° for 18-20 minutes or till toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks.
  3. For frosting: Melt butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Cook till it foams and starts to turn light brown. Quickly add brown sugar. Stir and cook till mixture comes to a boil.
  4. Slowly whisk in the cream, and bring to a boil again, stirring constantly. Boil and stir for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and add salt, vanilla, and cinnamon.
  5. Cool for about 20 minutes. Beat in powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp of milk, adding more milk as needed for a thick and creamy frosting.
  6. Pipe onto cupcakes. Garnish with butterscotch chips if desired.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

20

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 308Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 37mgSodium: 219mgCarbohydrates: 43gFiber: 0gSugar: 32gProtein: 3g

Did you make this recipe?

Leave a comment below and pin the recipe to Pinterest!

© Kara
Cuisine: American / Category: Dessert: Cakes and Cupcakes

This recipe was originally published at Capturing Joy.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Fireexch

    Cupcakes Butterscotch is a delightful confectionery masterpiece that effortlessly combines the richness of traditional cupcakes with the alluring charm of smooth and velvety butterscotch.

  5. Sonia Pandey Call Girl

    I have been reading your blog and I love the recipe for the butterscotch cupcakes with butterscotch frosting. Keep up the fantastic work.

  10. Lorelei

    Aarrgghh!! The brown sugar did not melt into the butter in the frosting and it came out with a caramel texture swimming in the oil from the butter. Tried mixing it with the powdered sugar anyway, but it’s so thick that it didn’t work. I need to get the cupcakes frosted, but am afraid to waste more ingredients without knowing what I did wrong. The cakes look and smell awesome.

    • Kara Cook

      It’s ok if the brown sugar mixture doesn’t blend well at first, as long as it comes together when you add the powdered sugar. If it’s too thick, I just add a bit more milk until it’s a good consistency. Good luck!

  13. Tina Roy

    They look delicious, Iā€™ve never tried browning butter for something like this, but Iā€™m willing to give it a try! Pinning!

  21. Aliasharma

    Such an awesome article this is. I really glad to have to this amazing article. It give us lots of ideal information and stuff that helpful for us in our future.

  25. Sneha

    Perfect! Ours came our lovely! we used cook and serve butterscotch pudding mix which worked well. Thanks for the Incredible Post

  29. Scrappy

    Hi Kara! I have a quick question. So when you say 1 3.4 oz instant butterscotch pudding mix, is is just one box of instant pudding mix that is 3.4 oz? Wait, just kidding! I have another question. Can I use cook and serve butterscotch pudding mix for this recipe or do I have to use instant butterscotch pudding mix?

  32. Kit

    Made these as recipe says. The taste was there but they came out very dense. Almost a muffin in consistency. Has anybody made these with butter as a substitute for the oil? If so, did they come out any fluffier like a normal cupcake?

  33. Bhavana

    Hi Kara,
    I tried the cupcake recipe. But the cupcakes stuck to the liner. I had roughly chopped the butterscotch chips, but where there were chips, the cake broke and it stuck to the liner.
    Used the exact same recipe. But was very disappointed.
    Any way I can powder the butterscotch chips and add it to batter, instead of rough chop ?
    The taste was amazing. But the texture somehow got ruined. Can you please let me know if this can be avoided somehow.

    Thank you

    • Kara Cook

      I think that powdering the chips would throw off the texture of the cupcakes. Instead, try spraying the inside of the cupcake liners with non-stick spray before adding the batter. In addition, don’t let them sit in the muffin tins for more than 5 minutes after they are baked. That can cause moisture in the muffin tin, which makes the liners tend to stick. It’s best to let them cool on cooling racks. I’ve never actually had problems with these muffins sticking to the liner, but I’ve tried these tricks for other recipes with good results. Good luck!

  34. chamiya

    Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. The cupcakes are good, and we LOVED the frosting!

  35. pretiroy

    I love to eat these butterscotch cupcakes. From your recipe now i think i should also make this cupcake in my house.

  36. Vivian Villa

    I just made a chocolate cake and frosted it completely (with a little left over) ; Ive done many versions of butterscotch frosting/icings(it’s my kids’ favourite), I am taking the time to say this is by far THE BEST frosting recipe Ive tried so far- the colour is deep and the flavour is rich and full butterscotch..next time Im going to replace half the cream with Bailey’s to do an adult version šŸ™‚

    Thank you Kara for this wonderful recipe

  37. Colleen

    Hello,
    I am interested in using your recipe, but I was wondering instead of cup cakes and I make an actual cake? I would like it to be a birthday cake for my boyfriend, but I am not sure if it would be the same amount for the ingredients.. can you please let me know what you think

    • Kara Cook

      I think the recipe would work fine in a 9×13″ pan. I’m not sure how long it would need to bake. Probably around 30 minutes, but I’d start checking it after 25. Good luck, and let me know how it turns out!

  38. Clint

    I had fun with the recipe – my frosting also was a bit runny – thinking I should have popped it the frig to give it a little thickness. Flavor is good – I added a little more salt to the frosting, personal preference.

    • Kara Cook

      Glad you had fun making them Clint! You can definitely pop the frosting in the refrigerator, or just use less milk. I actually usually add a little extra salt to my frosting as well. šŸ™‚

  39. Angela

    Hi I have no butterscotch pudding mix can’t get here in the Nederlands unless I can get it shipped over. Will it matter if I leave this out???

  40. Denise

    I just made these for a baby shower and they are amazing!! The mom-to-be requested mini cupcakes so I reduced the temp to 350 and baked them for 11 minutes. They baked up beautifully and tasted even better. Perfection!

  42. Mina

    hi i want to do this recipe however i dont have any heavy cream…would it be ok to substitute the heavy cream with half and half?

  43. Arden

    I am not a fan of butterscotch but the browned butter frosting intrigued me. The cupcakes turned out great although I would reduce the temperature to 350 next time.
    The frosting was runny so I improvised by adding meringue powder and a little bit more powdered sugar. Not sure if that was the right thing to do. I finally got the frosting to a consistentcy that I needed to pipe.
    Thanks for sharing this recipe.

  44. Rebecca

    Perfect! Ours came our lovely! we used cook and serve butterscotch pudding mix which worked well. Thanks.

  45. BigRED

    This recipe came out gross and crap. I followed it step by step and the cake came out almost squishy like, the frosting came out gritty and salty with an odd after taste. Needs lots of improvement.

  46. Jesseca

    These look incredible! I’m a sucker for anything butterscotch so I’m definitely going to have to try these.

  47. Julie

    They look delicious, I’ve never tried browning butter for something like this, but I’m willing to give it a try! Pinning!

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