Delicious Biscoff cupcakes (made with both Biscoff biscuits and spread to really pack in the flavour) topped with smooth Biscoff buttercream and finished with a crunchy Biscoff Biscuit.
One thing I learned when I made my Biscoff Cheesecake recently, was that it’s trickier than you might think to pack Biscoff flavour into baked goods. The flavour is actually more subtle than it at first seems when you eat those classic little biscuits with a cup of coffee.
I thought when I set out to make Biscoff Cupcakes, that I could follow a similar method to my Nutella Cupcakes, substituting some (or all) of the butter and sugar with Biscoff spread. Enough to really pack a punch. However, as with the cheesecake, I found that using the spread alone wasn’t enough to fill every mouthful with delicious Biscoffiness. After much experimentation, I realised that it needed the same solution as I used for the cheesecake – using the actual biscuits in the cake mixture.
But how to incorporate the biscuits into the cake mixture?
The solution – treat the biscuits like flour.
By grinding the biscuits up finely (like flour) you can substitute some of the flour in the cupcake mixture with biscuits. The only little extra that’s needed is a teaspoon of baking powder to help give the cupcakes a bit more of a lift.
To add one final extra hint of Biscoff flavour, I’ve switched the caster sugar, I usually use in my cupcakes, for brown sugar, which is what’s used to make the biscuits, to give an extra hint of caramel.
The result is delicious, fluffy cupcakes that are jam-packed full of Biscoff flavour.
Even better – they’re incredibly easy to make. Grind your biscuits into a powder, mix it with the other ingredients and bake. What could be simpler?
How long do these cupcakes last for and how should they be stored?
These cupcakes will last for up to a week after baking if you keep them stored in an airtight container.
❄️ Suitable for freezing
These cupcakes are also suitable for freezing. You can either store just the sponges or the iced cupcakes (without the biscuit).
To freeze just the sponges, simply pop them into an airtight container or wrap them with clingfilm and freeze.
To freeze the decorated cupcakes, pop them onto a tray and then freeze them for a couple of hours. This will allow the buttercream to harden. Once the buttercream is firm you can then pop them all into a container.
When you want to defrost your cupcakes, remove them from the container while they’re still frozen (so that when the buttercream softens they don’t all stick together and it still holds it’s shape) and then defrost them.
The buttercream can also be frozen. by itself to use at a later date.
I have found that the texture of the buttercream changes slightly after freezing, but it still tastes delicious 😀.
What should I decorate these cupcakes with?
I’ve decorated mine with Biscoff buttercream and a Biscoff biscuit. However, they also work extremely well with coffee or caramel buttercreams.
Can these cupcakes be baked as a full-sized cake?
Yes, if you’d like to bake these cupcakes as a full-sized cake you can find the recipe here.
The recipe includes a calculator so you can find the ingredients to make this in any size of round, square or rectangular tin.
What are these cupcakes free from? Who are they suitable for?
The ingredients I used to make this recipe are all free from the following allergens. However, please check any labels carefully for allergens you need to avoid as brands can vary, and product recipes can change over time.
- Suitable for Vegetarians
- Tree Nut-Free
- Peanut-Free
- Sesame-Free
- Sulphur Dioxide & Sulphite-Free
- Lupin-Free
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Biscoff Cupcakes
INGREDIENTS
For the cupcakes
- 105 g soft margarine - or butter which is soft at room temperature
- 90 g soft light brown sugar - you can use dark brown or muscovado sugar if you prefer
- 180 g smooth Lotus Biscoff spread
- 90 g self-raising flour
- 90 g Lotus Biscoff biscuits - 12 biscuits
- 3 medium eggs
- 1 tsp baking powder
For the buttercream
- 160 g smooth Lotus Biscoff spread
- 80 g butter - soft at room temperature
- 120 g icing sugar
- A little milk
To decorate
- 12 Lotus Biscoff biscuits
INSTRUCTIONS
Make the cupcakes
- Pre-heat your oven to 160°C/140°C fan.
- Line a muffin tin with 12 cupcake cakes.
- Finely grind the Biscoff biscuits (90g) – I use a pestle and mortar, but you could also use a food processor or pop them into a food bag and bash them with a rolling pin.
- Place all of your cake ingredients into a large bowl (ground Biscoff biscuits, 105g margarine, 90g brown sugar, 180g Biscoff spread, 90g self-raising flour, 3 medium eggs, 1 tsp baking powder).Beat together the ingredients until fully combined – if you're using an electric mixer, keep the speed low.
- Divide your cake mixture between the 12 pre-prepared cupcake cases.
- Bake for c. 20 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre come out clean.
- Once baked, pop the cakes onto a wire rack to cool completely.
While the cupcakes are cooling, make the buttercream
- Beat together the Lotus Biscoff Spread (160g) and butter (80g) until fully combined and soft. Either use an electric mixer on a low speed or beat by hand.
- Add the icing sugar (120g, a tablespoon at a time). Beat in each addition of icing sugar until fully combined before adding more.
- Check the consistency of your buttercream, it should be soft but not runny. If it is a little too stiff then add little milk (no more than one teaspoon at a time). Fully beat in each addition and recheck the consistency before adding more.
Decorate your cupcakes
- Pipe your Biscoff buttercream onto your cupcakes (I used a piping bag fitted with a JEM1B star nozzle).
- Top each cupcake with a Biscoff biscuit.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Emma says
Fantastic recipe! I made them for a work colleague who absolutely loves Biscoff and they went down a storm! They weren’t too sweet either, which was great.
Debbie howe says
Hi.
Can this be made for the bottom layer of a wedding cake.)10ich) If I dowelled it properly
Charlotte Oates says
Absolutely!
Cachou66 says
Bien tentants ces petits cupcakes aux spéculoos (Very tempting these little speculoos cupcakes)
Gill Corkill says
Hi there I’ve just made these wonderful cup cakes. There were not a sickly as I thought they would be. Just wondering do you leave the decoration of the biscuit just before you serve them. My biscuits went really soft and not crunchy.
Charlotte Oates says
It’s best to add the biscuit just before eating as the moisture from the buttercream can make it soggy.
Gill Corkill says
Thank you for your reply. I just wondered how they do it in shops.
Fiona says
Love that this recipe has little left over, nothing worse then when they say 12 and doesn’t.
Good rise, smells and taste amazing
Colette says
Hi Charlotte
Made your biscoff cupcakes and butter cream absolutely gorgeous think I will go through all your cup cake recipes I’ve also done the baileys ones mmmmm keep them coming THANKYOU
Joanne Johnston says
What a fabulous recipe . I made them for out tearoom and were a real hit .
Your recipes are so easy to do and understand