Honey Nut Cheerio Cupcakes

If you like Cheerios, you’ll love these Honey Nut Cheerio Cupcakes! A soft honey cupcake made with cereal infused milk is topped with a Honey Nut Cheerio buttercream to create a treat you’ll love.

I’ve been toying with the idea of these cupcakes for a while now. I’ve recently rediscovered my love of cereal, and Honey Nut Cheerios came back as a major favorite. One day while eating a bowl of them, I decided Honey Nut Cheerios crushed up in frosting is probably something that should happen.

And if that Honey Nut Cheerio buttercream ended up slathered on top of some subtly honey flavored, soft, moist cupcakes, well – that would be a good thing, right?

These cupcakes have been in my head for so long that I’ve toyed with so many different options for them. Should I do a filling? Eh…while whipped cream would definitely be good, I decided to keep it simple, and I was glad I did.

The cupcakes come together really quickly and easily, even the cereal milk part. Yes, I said cereal milk. While it’s not 100% necessary, why wouldn’t you want to infuse the milk for the cupcakes with some Honey Nut Cheerio flavor? It’s highly recommended.

The cupcakes uses honey as a flavor, which also adds a gorgeous golden color to the cupcakes. The batter smells seriously delicious between the honey and the cereal milk! The cupcakes bake up golden and puffy. Don’t be scared to fill those muffin tins a good 2/3 full though, or they won’t puff up to the edges of the liners.

The buttercream recipe is traditional, but with the addition of a little honey for flavor and Honey Nut Cheerios crushed into it for wonderful texture and that yummy, nostalgic flavor. Because of the crushed cereal in here, it doesn’t do well piping out of a tip. A big circle tip would likely work well, but I’m lazy so I just plopped it on with an ice cream scoop and smushed the buttercream with a spoon to give it a divot, and garnished with Honey Nut Cheerios. Voila. Some sparkly silver stars made it more fun and just a little whimsical.

This recipe only makes 12 cupcakes, but the recipe is easily doubled or tripled, or even halved. These cupcakes are fun and unique and will be a favorite of any Honey Nut Cheerio fans! Enjoy :)

Honey Nut Cheerio Cupcakes

Save Print Author: Rachel Conners Serves: 12 cupcakes Ingredients For the cupcakes

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup white sugar
2 eggs
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk
¼ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup Honey Nut Cheerios, lightly crushed

For the buttercream

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons heavy cream, or milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup Honey Nut Cheerios, crushed

Directions For the cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.
In a liquid measuring cup, stir together the milk and ¼ cup Honey Nut Cheerios. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and set aside while you prepare the batter.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs on at the time, scraping the bowl as necessary.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a fork or your clean fingers, remove the cereal from the milk. Discard the cereal. Make sure you still have ½ cup milk and add more if necessary. Add the honey and vanilla extract to the milk and whisk together.
Gradually add ⅓ of the dry ingredients, mix to combine. Add ½ of the wet ingredients, mix. Repeat, ending with dry ingredients.
Divide the batter between 12 muffin cups, they should be about ⅔ of the way full. Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the buttercream

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter for 5 minutes on medium speed. Butter will become pale & creamy.
Add the powdered sugar, honey, milk or heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Mix on low speed for 1 minute, and then on medium speed for 5 minutes. Add in crushed Honey Nut Cheerios and mix to incorporate completely, about 1 minute.
Frost cooled cupcakes immediately.

Notes Cupcake recipe adapted from The Cake Blog 3.3.3070