• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Kickass Baker
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Recipes (Legacy)
  • Let's Work Together!
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • About Me
  • Recipe Search
  • Recipe Index
  • Work With Me
  • Baking Resources
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×

    Home » Cupcakes

    Caramel-filled Churro Cupcakes

    5 from 2 votes
    2 Comments

    Aug 7, 2019

    (updated Mar 4, 2022)

    by Kimberlee Ho

    Jump to Recipe
    Churro Cupcakes filled with Caramel image for Pinterest
    Churro cupcakes filled with caramel Pinterest image with text overlay

    Making homemade churros can be a bit intimidating, as there's frying involved. A much simpler idea is to transform that flavor profile into cupcake form with this Caramel-filled Churro Cupcakes recipe.

    These are moist cupcakes filled with caramel. One of the best parts? The top of the cupcakes have a rich cinnamon cream cheese frosting. These are next level!

    Overhead shot of churro cupcakes cut open with caramel filling spilling out

    Disclosure: I have included links to some great products and services that I think you’ll love. I use them myself and only recommend them because I love them. If you purchase via the links I may earn a small commission.

    What Makes These Caramel-filled Churro Cupcakes so Delightful?

    If you don’t already know, I am a huge fan of caramel. And cupcakes. So, turning churros into cupcakes stuffed with caramel seemed only logical. I had to bake these a couple of times to get them exactly right.

    The first time the frosting was way too loose and didn’t pipe well. I nailed it the second time and these have become an absolute favorite!

    I decided to make a cinnamon cream cheese version that holds up well when piped and complements the cinnamon cake and caramel filling perfectly.

    Close up shot of an unwrapped churro cupcake with caramel drizzle on top

    Why Stuff Your Churro Cupcakes with Caramel

    Why not, is the question! This is the fun part of making a delicious dessert. I started filling and stuffing my cupcakes just recently and have yet to turn back.

    I find it adds a sweet surprise to the cupcake and captures a complementary texture.

    This provides for more interesting flavor combos as well as very happy cupcake eaters! Filling your cupcakes is super easy, too. See below in my tips section for a how-to.

    Overhead shot of churro cupcake cut in half with caramel pull

    Ingredients Needed to Make Churro Cupcakes:

    For the Caramel Filling:

    • Granulated sugar
    • Unsalted butter
    • Heavy Cream
    • Vanilla Extract

    For the Cupcakes:

    Dry ingredients:

    • All-purpose Flour
    • Cake Flour
    • Baking Powder
    • Ground Cinnamon
    • Salt
    • Granulated Sugar

    Wet Ingredients:

    • Unsalted Butter
    • Eggs
    • Vanilla Extract
    • Whole Milk

    For the Cinnamon Frosting recipe:

    • Unsalted butter
    • Cream Cheese
    • Ground Cinnamon
    • Vanilla Extract
    • Powdered Sugar
    • Whole Milk

    Tools You'll Need to Make this recipe:

    • Saucepan
    • Medium bowl
    • Electric mixer
    • Paddle attachment
    • Bowl of a stand mixer or large bowl
    • Cupcake tin or muffin pan
    • Cupcake liners
    • Pastry bag, piping bag or ziplock bag with the corner snipped off
    • Cupcake Corer, sharp knife, or spoon to dig out the center of each cupcake
    Close up shot of half a caramel-filled churro cupcake

    Tips for Making This Recipe

    • I highly recommend preparing the caramel filling first in this recipe. This is the reason I listed it first in the recipe instructions! The caramel needs time to cool and set up before stuffing into your cupcakes. Otherwise the caramel will be way too loose and will absorb into your cupcakes instead of filling them. If the caramel is still a bit too loose when it comes time to fill the cupcakes, stick it in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to solidify it a bit more, then carefully spoon it into your cupcakes until the caramel reaches the top but doesn’t overflow
    • To fill your cupcakes, you can use a fancy schmancy cupcake corer, an apple corer that you probably have in the back of your kitchen drawer somewhere, or a regular ol’ knife. I use an apple corer. Wait patiently until your cupcakes have cooled. Then take your corer and push it straight down into the center of the cupcake to create a tunnel. If you are using a knife, carefully cut a small ½ inch circular tunnel down to the bottom or near bottom of your cupcake. I like to keep these little pieces of cupcake to nibble on while I’m frosting the cupcakes, but feel free to toss them or give your dog a little treat!
    • When making the frosting, refrain from adding the milk until you have thoroughly mixed all ingredients. You want to be able to test the consistency of the frosting before adding the milk. Once you add it and if becomes too loose, it’s difficult to get it back to where it needs to be. So, my recommendation is to first see how thick the frosting is then add in half of the milk at first, then add in a bit more if needed. I like mine on the thicker side as it holds up better for piping onto the top of each cupcake

    Follow me on Pinterest for lots more recipes just like this one! And don’t forget to pin this recipe for later by clicking on one of the images below the recipe. Or, click on any of the images in this post to save to Pinterest.

    If you are looking for more great recipes like this one, try these:

    • cupcake with frosting and strawberry on top with other cupcakes
      Lemon Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting
    • Oreo Cupcakes Stuffed with Chocolate Ganache cut in half to see the filling, Oreo cookie crumbles scattered around
      Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache and Oreo Buttercream Frosting
    • Close up of pink champagne cupcake with white chocolate buttercream and sprinkles
      Pink Champagne Cupcakes with White Chocolate Buttercream
    • Chocolate Sour Cream Fudge Cupcakes, single cupcake on plate cut in half with cupcakes on cake stand behind and flowers | kickassbaker.com
      Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
    Churro cupcakes in their wrappers lined up, drizzled with caramel

    FOR ALL MY FAVORITE BAKING TOOLS INCLUDING THOSE USED TO MAKE THIS RECIPE, CHECK OUT MY BAKING RESOURCES PAGE!

    Close up shot of half a caramel-filled churro cupcake

    Churro Cupcake Recipe

    Making homemade churros can be a bit intimidating, as there's frying involved. A much simpler idea is to transform that flavor profile into cupcake form with this Churro Cupcake recipe.
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe
    Prep Time: 25 minutes
    Cook Time: 30 minutes
    Total Time: 55 minutes
    Course: All Recipes, Dessert, Snacks
    Cuisine: Mexican
    Keyword: basic cupcakes, caramel filled cupcake, churro cupcake, churros, cinnamon frosting
    Servings: 18
    Calories: 410kcal
    Author: Kimberlee Ho
    US Customary - Metric

    Ingredients

    Caramel Filling

    • 1 cup granulated sugar
    • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
    • ½ cup heavy cream
    • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

    Churro Cupcakes

    • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
    • 1 ½ cups cake flour
    • 1 tablespoon baking powder
    • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
    • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
    • 1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
    • 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
    • 4 large eggs room temperature
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    • 1 ¼ cups whole milk

    Cinnamon Frosting

    • ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
    • 8 ounces cream cheese brick-style, room temperature
    • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 4 ½ cups powdered sugar
    • 1 tablespoon milk optional
    US Customary - Metric

    Instructions

    Make the Caramel:

    • In medium saucepan, heat sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly.
    • Don’t worry when you see the sugar becoming clumpy. It will begin to melt into an amber-colored liquid as you continue to heat and stir it. Keep an eye on it, as you don’t want it to burn.
    • Once sugar is completely melted, add in butter (be careful, it may splatter!) and whisk until fully incorporated.
    • Slowly drizzle in the heavy cream and vanilla while stirring the mixture.
    • Boil for one minute then remove from the heat.
    • Allow to cool while you make the cupcakes. I usually stick it in the fridge to firm up slightly.

    Make the Cupcakes:

    • Preheat the oven to 350º F. Line two 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners.
    • In a medium bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
    • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the sugar and butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. 
    • Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until just incorporated.
    • Beat in the vanilla.
    • Reduce the mixing speed to low. Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk. Beat until combined.
    • Divide the batter evenly among the lined cups, filling each three-quarters full.
    • Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.
    • Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

    Make the Frosting:

    • In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the cream cheese and butter for a few minutes until light and fluffy.
    • Add in cinnamon and vanilla.
    • With the mixer on low, add in powdered sugar one cup at a time. If frosting gets too thick, add in milk to thin it out, 1 teaspoon at a time (I did not use any milk).

    Fill & Frost the Cupcakes:

    • With a cupcake corer or an apple corer, cut a hole in the middle of each cooled cupcake and spoon in enough caramel to fill the hole. 
    • Frost the cupcakes and serve.

    Notes

    • Store leftover frosted cupcakes in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days
    • Unfrosted cupcakes may be made in advance, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 5 days
    • Refrigerate leftover caramel and frosting in separate airtight containers for up to 1 week
    • Recipe adapted from Food Network and Macheesmo

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1serving | Calories: 410kcal | Carbohydrates: 58.7g | Protein: 4.1g | Fat: 18.6g | Saturated Fat: 11.3g | Cholesterol: 80.1mg | Sodium: 514.8mg | Fiber: 1.7g | Sugar: 42.8g
    Did you make this recipe?Tag @kickassbaker on Instagram so I can see!

    SAVE THIS RECIPE FOR LATER! PIN THE IMAGE BELOW TO PINTEREST

    Churro cupcakes filled with caramel Pinterest image with text overlay

    Notice: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. By clicking on any of these links, you are consenting to us to place cookies on your browser.

    Filed Under

    CupcakesIntermediateCaramel
    « White Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream
    Chocolate Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches »

    Reader Interactions

      Leave a comment & rate this recipe Cancel reply

      I am honored you made this recipe from kickassbaker.com! Your star rating and comment will help others looking for recipes like this one. Please take a moment to share a star rating and offer a helpful comment or tip for other bakers. Thank you!

      Recipe Rating




      This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

      Comments

    1. Heidi Clark

      August 07, 2019 at 7:33 am

      Holy Smokes, Kim! These Churro Cupcakes look amazing! Your photos are absolutely gorgeous!!

      Reply
      • Kim

        August 07, 2019 at 8:51 am

        I'm so happy to hear you say that, Heidi! They are amazing and so delish! Thank you for supporting me and my blog!!!

        Reply

    Primary Sidebar

    Hey there!  Thank you so much for visiting Kickass Baker!  I’m Kim, the working mom and home baker behind this blog.  I know how crazy life can be.  Too often, we can beat ourselves up and give up things we enjoy because we think we aren’t great at them.  But you are kicking ass everyday and I’m here to help you bake up some crazy-good recipes and embrace your Kickass Baker!

    More about me →

    Popular

    • Double Chocolate Chip Muffin close-up with bite taken out, milk behind
      Bakery-Style Double Chocolate Chip Muffins Recipe
    • serving a slice of dalgona coffee chocolate cake
      Dalgona Coffee Chocolate Cake
    • Challah braided bread slices ready to be eaten.
      Fluffy Challah Bread
    • Close-up image of easy homemade cinnamon sticky bun fresh out of the oven
      One Hour Cinnamon Rolls
    • Brioche Doughnuts | kickassbaker.com #brioche #donuts #doughnuts #vanilla #cream #creme #filled #dessert #nutfree #recipes #kickassbaker #fried #breakfast
      Brioche Donuts with Vanilla Cream Filling
    • Challah Rolls recipe is great for the holidays.
      Challah Rolls

    Let's Connect!

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    FeedFeed

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About Kim
    • Privacy Policy

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Contact

    • Contact
    • Work with Me

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2023 Kickass Baker