Churro Cupcakes are the recipe that Maria makes every Cinco de Mayo when she wants all the warm cinnamon sweetness and the festive Mexican bakery energy of a real churro without any frying, without any oil splattering, and without any of the complicated technique that makes home churro-making so completely daunting for most home bakers. She beats the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy and the most beautiful pale cream color, adds the oil and vanilla and sour cream, folds in the flour mixture, and bakes twenty-four perfectly domed and deeply tender vanilla cupcakes. Then comes the frosting that makes these Cinco de Mayo cupcakes so completely extraordinary.
An entire half pound of cream cheese beaten with butter until silky, powdered sugar added until fluffy, cinnamon stirred through until the whole bowl smells like the most warm and completely irresistible Mexican bakery on Cinco de Mayo morning, and then piped in generous swirls onto every cooled cupcake and finished with a completely generous dusting of cinnamon sugar.
Churro Cupcakes are the most festive and completely irresistible Cinco de Mayo cupcakes made with moist vanilla sour cream cupcake batter topped with the most silky and deeply cinnamon cream cheese frosting and finished with a generous cinnamon sugar dusting for the most authentic churro flavor in cupcake form. Come follow us on Pinterest where we share beautiful Cinco de Mayo recipes and festive celebration baking favorites from our kitchen every single week.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Churro Cupcakes Recipe
This Churro Cupcakes recipe is the Cinco de Mayo dessert that makes every person at the party immediately reach for a second before they have even finished their first because the combination of the most tender and moist vanilla cupcake base with the most deeply cinnamon-scented and silky cream cheese frosting is so completely and perfectly balanced between sweet and warmly spiced that it captures every beloved quality of an authentic churro in the most completely convenient and individually beautiful individual cupcake format.
The cream cheese in the frosting rather than a plain buttercream is the specific ingredient choice that makes these Cinco de Mayo churro cupcakes so genuinely extraordinary. The cream cheese adds a mild and pleasant tanginess that provides exactly the right counterpoint to the warmth of the cinnamon and the sweetness of the powdered sugar, producing a frosting that is significantly more complex and more deeply satisfying than a simple cinnamon buttercream would be. Our Mexican Pink Cookies make a beautifully festive and equally Cinco de Mayo-appropriate companion for a complete and vibrant Mexican celebration dessert table.
Ingredients Needed for This Churro Cupcakes Recipe
For the Vanilla Cupcakes:
- 2½ cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
- 3 large Eggs
- 2 cups Granulated Sugar
- 1 cup Canola Oil
- 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Full-Fat Sour Cream or Plain Greek Yogurt
For the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, room temperature
- 12 oz Full-Fat Cream Cheese, room temperature
- 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 6 cups Powdered Sugar
- 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
For the Cinnamon Sugar Topping:
- Generous Cinnamon and Sugar mixture for sprinkling
How to Make This Churro Cupcakes Recipe
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 24 regular-size muffin cups with paper cupcake liners.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed for approximately 2 minutes until the mixture is noticeably thickened and lightened to a cream color. This creaming of the eggs and sugar is the most important step for producing the most tender and beautifully light cupcake texture. Do not rush this step.
Add the canola oil and vanilla to the egg and sugar mixture and mix until blended. Mix in the sour cream until combined. Add the flour mixture and mix until the batter is just smooth. Do not overmix, cara mia.
Divide the batter evenly among the 24 prepared liners, filling each approximately two thirds full. Bake at 350°F for 18 to 23 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
For the cinnamon cream cheese frosting, combine the room-temperature butter, room-temperature cream cheese, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat on low speed until completely smooth, approximately 1 minute. Add the powdered sugar and ground cinnamon and mix until smooth, approximately 1 minute, then beat on medium speed for 1 more minute to lighten the frosting. The cinnamon beaten through the cream cheese frosting produces the most authentic and deeply warm churro aroma and flavor.
Spoon the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a decorative star tip. Pipe a generous cinnamon swirl onto each completely cooled cupcake. Finish with a very generous dusting of the cinnamon and sugar mixture over every cupcake for the most beautiful and completely authentic churro presentation.
How to Serve This Churro Cupcakes Recipe
Arrange these gorgeous Cinco de Mayo churro cupcakes on a beautiful tiered cupcake stand or a large platter for the most completely festive and visually striking Cinco de Mayo dessert table display. The warm cinnamon aroma from the frosting fills the room and draws every guest directly to the dessert table.
For an extra festive Cinco de Mayo presentation, insert a small cinnamon stick into the frosting of each cupcake as a garnish for the most charming and authentically churro-inspired individual cupcake presentation. Our Margarita Cake makes a beautifully festive and equally Cinco de Mayo-worthy companion for a complete and vibrant Mexican fiesta dessert spread.
How to Store This Churro Cupcakes Recipe
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or refrigerated for up to 5 days. Bring refrigerated cupcakes to room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before serving for the most pleasant frosting texture. These cupcakes freeze beautifully unfrosted for up to 3 months. Thaw completely and frost fresh before serving.
Tips to Make This Churro Cupcakes Recipe
Beat the eggs and sugar together for the full 2 minutes until genuinely thick and lightened to a cream color before adding any other ingredients. This is the most important technical step in the entire cupcake recipe and is responsible for the most beautifully tender and light finished texture. Skipping or rushing this creaming step produces a denser and less tender cupcake.
Use room-temperature butter and cream cheese for the frosting. Cold ingredients do not mix properly and produce a lumpy and insufficiently blended frosting. Warm ingredients lose their stability and produce a frosting that is too soft to pipe with beautiful defined peaks. Room temperature is the most essential condition for the most silky and pipeable churro cream cheese frosting.
Helpful Notes for This Churro Cupcakes Recipe
Measure the flour by spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling off with the back of a knife rather than scooping the cup directly into the flour bag. Scooping packs too much flour into the cup and produces dry and dense cupcakes rather than the most moist and tender Cinco de Mayo churro cupcakes the recipe is designed to deliver.
Fill each cupcake liner only two thirds full. Overfilled liners produce flat-topped or spilling cupcakes without the most beautiful gentle dome that makes every piped swirl of churro frosting look most elegant and most beautiful.
Variation of This Churro Cupcakes Recipe
Maria made a version adding a teaspoon of ground cinnamon directly to the cupcake batter alongside the flour for the most deeply cinnamon-forward and completely churro-authentic cupcake that was completely extraordinary for her Cinco de Mayo gathering. Teresa tried scooping out the center of each cooled cupcake and filling it with extra cinnamon cream cheese frosting before piping the top for the most completely indulgent and deeply filled churro cupcake experience imaginable.
For a chocolate churro version perfect for Cinco de Mayo, use a chocolate cupcake base and top with the same cinnamon cream cheese frosting and cinnamon sugar for the most extraordinary chocolate churro cupcake that combines the most beloved flavors of Mexican chocolate and churro cinnamon in one completely irresistible bite. Our Churro Donuts make a beautifully equally cinnamon-forward and equally Cinco de Mayo-festive companion for a complete and wonderful Mexican celebration dessert spread.
FAQs About This Churro Cupcakes Recipe
What makes these churro cupcakes taste like real churros?
The combination of the warm cinnamon cream cheese frosting and the generous cinnamon sugar dusting across every cupcake surface recreates the most characteristic flavor elements of a real churro which is primarily the warm cinnamon sweetness and the slight sugary crunch on the exterior. The vanilla cupcake base provides the most similar flavor to the fried dough interior of a real churro.
Can I substitute buttercream for the cream cheese frosting?
Yes. A simple vanilla buttercream with 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon added can be substituted for the cream cheese frosting. The cream cheese version is preferred because the mild tanginess of the cheese adds a complexity and depth to the frosting that plain buttercream does not provide. Both are delicious for Cinco de Mayo.
Can I make these cupcakes ahead for Cinco de Mayo?
Yes. Bake the cupcakes the day before your Cinco de Mayo celebration and store in an airtight container at room temperature. Make the frosting the day before and refrigerate. On the day of the party, bring the frosting to room temperature, beat briefly, pipe onto the cupcakes, and finish with the cinnamon sugar for the most fresh and beautiful result.
Conclusion
These Churro Cupcakes are the most completely festive and deeply delicious Cinco de Mayo celebration bake that makes every fiesta more joyful and makes every person who receives one feel genuinely and completely celebrated through the most warm and completely cinnamon-fragrant and silky-cream-cheese-frosted cupcake experience imaginable. We hope they bring the same deeply festive Cinco de Mayo energy and the same completely delighted gathering to your kitchen that they have always brought to ours. Make them, share them, and come back to tell us all about it. With all our love, Maria, Lucia, and Teresa.
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Churro Cupcakes The Most Easy Cinco de Mayo Cinnamon Cream Cheese Cupcake You Will Bake
- Total Time: 1 hour including cooling
- Yield: 24 cupcakes 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
The most festive and easy Churro Cupcakes perfect for Cinco de Mayo made with a moist vanilla sour cream cupcake batter of flour baking powder baking soda salt eggs granulated sugar canola oil vanilla and sour cream baked at 350°F for 18 to 23 minutes topped with a deeply cinnamon cream cheese frosting of butter cream cheese vanilla powdered sugar and cinnamon piped in generous swirls and finished with a cinnamon sugar dusting. A completely authentic Cinco de Mayo churro celebration cupcake recipe.
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
3 large Eggs
2 cups Granulated Sugar
1 cup Canola Oil
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1 cup Full-Fat Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt
1 cup 2 sticks Unsalted Butter room temperature
12 oz Full-Fat Cream Cheese room temperature
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract for frosting
6 cups Powdered Sugar
2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
Cinnamon Sugar mixture for sprinkling
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 muffin cups with liners.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Beat eggs and sugar on medium-high 2 minutes until thickened and cream colored.
4. Add oil and vanilla. Mix until blended. Mix in sour cream.
5. Add flour mixture. Mix until just smooth. Do not overmix.
6. Fill liners 2/3 full.
7. Bake 18 to 23 minutes until toothpick clean.
8. Cool completely.
9. Beat room temperature butter, cream cheese, and vanilla on low until smooth about 1 minute.
10. Add powdered sugar and cinnamon. Mix smooth about 1 minute. Beat medium 1 more minute to lighten.
11. Pipe generous cinnamon swirls onto cooled cupcakes using star tip.
12. Finish with very generous cinnamon sugar dusting over every cupcake.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 23 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Cupcakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Mexican American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 458
- Sugar: 47g
- Sodium: 189mg
- Fat: 24g
- Saturated Fat: 10g
- Unsaturated Fat: 12g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 58g
- Fiber: 0g
- Protein: 3g
- Cholesterol: 61mg
Keywords: churro cupcakes, Cinco de Mayo churro cupcakes recipe, easy churro cupcakes cinnamon cream cheese frosting, Mexican churro cupcakes Cinco de Mayo dessert
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