Breakfast Cupcakes are light and fluffy pancake muffins topped with an airy whipped cream cheese and strawberry preserves “frosting”. Move over Waffle French Toast, Birthday Cupcakes are the new go-to for a fun birthday breakfast (even though they’re easy enough to make year-round!) Who says you can’t have cupcakes for breakfast?!
Coming up with this recipe was a happy accident. I was working my PB&J Pancakes Sandwiches recipe and ended up testing them several times to arrive at the perfect combination. There was still a ton of pancake batter leftover, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with all the extra. I hate wasting food, but I was also too lazy to make 100 pancakes. Does anyone have the patience for that?
Then, just to see what would happen, I poured all the extra batter into muffin tins and popped them in the oven. I couldn’t believe the results! Why hadn’t I thought of this before? They had become the perfect muffin as my daughter Chloe called it (or “cupcake” as my son Kenya chimed in). Inspired to take things one step further, I whisked together some strawberry preserves and cream cheese to make “icing” and — voila — the Breakfast Cupcake was born!
Table of Contents
Why I Love Breakfast Cupcakes
- Kid-Friendly Surprise: The best part about these Breakfast Cupcakes is that you’ll have a new good morning surprise for your family, and they’ll never know these are cupcakes that aren’t loaded with sugar (like these Dark Chocolate Cupcakes). It’ll feel like you’re having a delicious dessert for breakfast without the sugar crash by noon.
- Quick and Efficient: These pancake muffins are a convenient way to serve pancakes, especially for a crowd. Instead of standing over the stovetop flipping pancake after pancake, you can pour the batter into muffin cups and bake them all at once! Speaking of, my Sheet Pan Pancake recipe is great for quick and easy pancakes for a crowd too!
- Customizable: Breakfast cupcakes are so much fun because you can add whatever you like to them. You could sprinkle in a few chocolate chips, blueberries or even some mashed raspberries for a raspberry pancake muffin.
The Ingredients:
- All purpose flour: The foundation of the breakfast cupcake.
- Baking powder: This ingredients acts as the leavening agent, helping the cupcakes rise evenly in the oven.
- Peanut butter: Gives a delicious nutty flavor for this recipe while adding a bit of protein too.
- Egg: The egg binds everything together and gives the cupcake structure.
- Sugar: We use very little sugar in this recipe, but just enough to make this a nice breakfast treat!
- Milk: Provides moisture and tenderness for the perfect decadent breakfast cupcake.
- Cream cheese: Whether you use whipped or regular cream cheese, this ingredient forms a delicious base for our simple cupcake frosting.
- Jelly, jam, or preserves of your choice: Add a burst of fruity sweetness to our frosting, infusing each bite with delightful flavor.
*See recipe card for full list of ingredients with measurements*
Substitutions and Variations:
There are plenty of ways to make this recipe suit your tastes and preferences.
- Type of Nut/Seed Butter: If you have a nut allergy you need to consider, this recipe works with any nut or seed butter you prefer. Feel free to use sunflower seed butter, almond butter or even cashew butter.
- Type of Flour: The texture will be affected slightly, but feel free to use your preferred flour. Whole wheat, white whole wheat or a cup-for-cup gluten free flour would work in this recipe.
- For the Sugar: Honey, agave or maple syrup could be used in place of the sugar in this recipe. The texture will vary slightly but won’t majorly affect the recipe overall.
- Egg Substitutions: While I haven’t tested it out, I’ve had readers say they experimented with using egg replacers in this recipe and they turned out great. Other commenters mentioned substituting 1/4 cup Greek yogurt for the egg. Again, I didn’t try it out myself so do with that what you will 🙂
- Flavor Variations: Feel free to add chocolate chips, fresh berries or anything you’d normally enjoy added into your pancakes!
How to Make Breakfast Cupcakes
Step 1: Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl until thoroughly incorporated. In a separate bowl, whisk the peanut butter, egg and sugar until combined, then whisk in the milk until incorporated.
Step 2: Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined. You don’t want to over beat the mixture.
Step 3: Grease or line muffin tins and fill 2/3 of the way up with the batter.
Step 4: Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely then topping with jelly frosting.
*See recipe card for jelly frosting instructions*
Frequently Asked Questions
Keep your Breakfast Cupcakes fresh by storing them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. When you’re ready to enjoy your Breakfast Cupcakes, simply reheat them in the microwave, toaster oven, or oven until warmed through.
Yes! Extend the shelf life of your Breakfast Cupcakes by freezing them. After allowing them to cool completely, place unfrosted cupcakes on a baking sheet and freeze for 1-2 hours. Once frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag or container. They can remain in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Yes, this batter is able to be used to make pancakes.
Yes! If you want mini muffins, follow the instructions adjusting the cook time to 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
More “Cupcakes” for Breakfast
I’m so happy I stumbled upon making these Breakfast Cupcakes. Accidents happen, and aren’t they delicious?! Now, this recipe a go-to for my kids’ birthday breakfasts every year and they love it! Who says you can’t have your (breakfast cup)cake and eat it too! If you loved this recipe, consider leaving a comment and a rating below!
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Breakfast Cupcakes
Equipment
Ingredients
Breakfast Cupcakes:
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup peanut butter (you can also use almond, cashew, or sunflower butter)
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/4 cup milk (low fat or whole)
Jelly Frosting:
- 1/2 cup whipped or regular cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/4 cup jelly, jam or preserves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the peanut butter, egg and sugar until combined, then whisk in the milk until incorporated.
- Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined (you don't want to over beat the mixture).
- Grease or line a standard 12 cup muffin tin and fill 2/3 of the way up with the batter.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool cupcakes completely. Spread the top of each cupcake with frosting (instructions below) and serve.
Jelly Frosting:
- Place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until throughly combined (you want the mixture to be smooth like frosting).
- Spread on cupcakes and serve.
Can you freeze these?
Full size cupcakes would probably take 25-30 minutes. The mini ones take a few hours to defrost in the fridge or on the counter. I usually take them out of the freezer the night before I want to use them!
I made these the other day and they were a hit with the whole family! I used them with a banana puree “dip” for my little one to have fun with while eating this morning! Two questions though. If using full sized muffin pans, what would the cooking time be? I did a small test and it seemed that if I filled them only halfway the 20 minutes was fine…but if I wanted a full size muffin I would guess I would need more time. The second question is, once frozen, how much time do you think these will take to defrost without using a microwave? (The mini size, not the full size ones) All my defrosting is done the old-fashioned way…fridge, countertop, or a heat-up on the stove or oven.
Ok, so I’ve made these three times now. I finally got a clue as to why my son would not eat them. This morning he said “can you make them so they are not messy, mommy?” (He doesn’t like it when his hands get sticky). Aha! So, I folded some frozen raspberries into the batter before I baked them and served them with no frosting. Voila! He’s eaten 5 so far : )
Here it is! I’ve updated the page so that the frosting is in the recipe card now! 🙂
Jelly Frosting (Makes about 2 cups)
1/2 Cup Whipped or Regular Cream Cheese (softened in a microwave or at room temperature)
1/4 Cup Jelly, Jam or Preserves
1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until throughly combined (you want the mixture to be smooth like frosting).
2. Spread on cupcakes and serve.
Just served them this morning! I used sunflower butter and egg replacer for my child who has allergies. Still turned out great! Right before serving I cut a slit in the middle of the muffin and used a spoon to add a touch of real maple syrup. Since they were warm from the microwave it tasted yummy! Thanks for a great alternative to busy morning breakfasts:-)
Made these as pancakes for my 5 yr olds first sleepover, with Kelly instead of syrup! The boys devoured them! What a fantastic recipe!
Can I use honey to sub in for sugar while also using whole wheat flour in place of white? Has anyone tried that combination?
When making it gluten free, is an all purpose mix best our another flour?
Just altered these to be gluten free. So yummy! My kids loved them! Thanks!
What about including egg white protein powder? Use 1/4 cup with 1 cup of flour? I’m looking to boost the protein. My daughter already eats tons of PB 🙂
Instead of the frosting I just spread jam over the top of it and it was also good.
I made these and the dough was dry. I want to try again. Any advice?
Made breakfast cupcakes this morning. They were a big hit with my 2 year old!! Had no eggs (left them in the car when unpacking the groceries!) so I used 1/4 cup of Fage full fat greek yogurt instead. They came out great!!
I just made these and they are absolutely delicious, my daughter loved it 🙂
i made the frosting with pineapple jam and cream cheese .
thank you so much for sharing 🙂
How creative! I need to try these, my little one would love having ‘cupcakes’ for breakfast! 😉
@Me: try mashed banana as an egg alternative (1/2 banana + 1/4 tsp baking powder = 1 egg) it will add a slight banana flavor to whatever you make, but with these I bet it would be yummy!