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.
Sarah says
Where am I going wrong? First time they came out so dry
Tried them again and they’ve sunk in so badly.
Charlotte Oates says
Dry I would suggest was due to the cakes being overbaked. Sinking in the middle I would suspect is down to adding too much baking powder (although there are other things that can cause it too). The additional baking powder in the recipe needs to be measured using a measuring teaspoon rather than a regular one and it needs to be level. If you add to much the cakes will rise too much in the oven and then lack the necessary structure for the height, so then sink.
Wendy Blakemore says
I’ve made these twice now and they are everyone’s favourite
Kari Gillespie says
So simple and absolute perfection! Thank you so much for this fantastic recipe.
Zoe Goodwin says
These were truly delicious – according to my neighbour “the best cupcakes I’ve had in 52 years” and I’m not usually good at baking! Thank you for the fabulous recipe – I’m inspired to try more from your kitchen. Zx
Saarah says
These turned out so delicious!! The buttercream was the right amount of sweet, although I did have to make a bit more than the amount listed to cover all 12 cupcakes. Thanks for this recipe
Emma says
Thanks for your fab recipes Charlotte! I made your easy vanilla cupcakes with the biscoff buttercream, substituting the butter for flora unsalted plant butter and it worked a treat! It didn’t fully mix with the biscoff spread as normal butter would have, despite a good while in the electric mixer, but once the icing sugar was added it made a lovely thick buttercream. I added a tablespoon of milk as advised – probably could have added a 2nd but this was great. Thanks again
Kamna says
Hiee can uh tell me instead of eggs what should I add?
Charlotte Oates says
Unfortunately, switching out the eggs would require a complete redesign of the recipe so there’s no simple substitution. If you’re after an egg-free Biscoff cupcake then I know that there are recipes on Jane’s Patisserie and The Baking Explorer you could try.
LISA says
Hi Charlotte made these cakes for the second time today and just like the first time they disappeared in minutes . my son would love me to make him a biscoff birthday cake any chance you will be doing a full size recipe in the near future.
Maddy says
These turned out perfectly!!! I made them for a friends bday & I felt guilty taking all the credit, so here I am saying thank you for this
Samantha says
Really enjoyed these cupcakes and they were super easy to make! The buttercream is delicious!
My only tip is to not put the biscuits on as decoration until serving, I did it straight away and left overnight and they had gone a bit soggy. But apart from that great recipe!
Joan says
Hi Charlotte, would love this as a full size cake recipe…if you have time. Thanks so much
Charlotte Oates says
I will move it up my list.
Patrick Bliss says
Whole family love them. Only problem was that they didn’t last 5 minutes !!!!
Jayne says
Hi Charlotte! I love your recipes and have made quite a few of them now and they’ve always come out great apart from the Biscoff buttercream. I’ve made it twice now and the buttercream look like dough-any ideas what I’m doing wrong?
Thanks
Charlotte Oates says
It sounds as though it’s too thick. Did you add a little milk to get it to a softer consistency?
Sophia says
Could this be made into a dairy free recipe? Would I simply swap the margarine in the cake and the butter in the butter cream to dairy free alternatives? Thanks, looking forward to trying!
Charlotte Oates says
Yes, that would work very well.
Julie says
Made these today. Lovely…. a little bit dry compared to the mix I usually do for cupcakes. Did leave the baking powder out as didn’t have any in . Don’t not know if this made a difference. Will defiantly make again though . Easy recipe
Charlotte Oates says
The recipe still works without the baking powder (as there’s raising agents in the flour), but they do rise a little taller and are a little fluffier if you add it.
Sarah Jones says
Wow, made a batch of these yeaterday along with your lemon cupcakes and my own recipe chocolate cupcakes, very welcome fathers day treats!! Easy recipe and truly delish!!
Emily Anderson says
Made these today and they turned out great, whole family loved them!
cynthia caton says
I made these Cupcakes today they are gorgeous love them, would recommend them to anyone who loves biscoff biscuits. Thank you for sharing the recipe Charlotte.
Thank you also for telling us how to make self raisin flour from plain, this will come in very handy as I am running out of self raisin flour and have a birthday cake to make in a couple of weeks.
Kathy Maskell says
Would it be possible to adapt your vegan cake recipe to include the Biscoff biscuits and spread?
Charlotte Oates says
Theoretically yes, but I’m not too sure exactly what the adaptation would be without testing it. The buttercream is simple, switch the butter for half vegan margarine and half vegetable oil block (e.g. Stork baking block or Trex). For the cake, you could switch the caster sugar for brown to give the sponge a more caramel flavour. That combined with the Biscoff buttercream would give a decent Biscoff cake, even if it’s not quite as Biscoffy as these cupcakes.
Kathy Maskell says
Hi Charlotte,
I made my daughter’s 21st birthday cake with the vegan birthday cake recipe – but with muscavado sugar. Put together 3 layers of sponge with vanilla buttercream (vegan version), surrounded with biscoff biscuits and piped some biscoff flavoured buttercream on top – she loved it. I would add a photo if I knew how! Thank you xx
Charlotte Oates says
It sounds delicious, I so pleased you found the perfect cake.
I’d love to see a picture. Unfortunately you can’t upload pictures to the comments, but if you’d like you can send one via email to [email protected] or send it via Facebook or Instagram messenger.
Rebecca Smith says
These look divine. I can have Lotus biscuits myself so will be making a mini batch of these just for me to scoff hahahaha
Charlotte Oates says
Sounds like an excellent plan 🙂