Snickerdoodle Cupcakes Recipe

These snickerdoodle cupcakes are soft vanilla and cinnamon cupcakes topped with a tall swirl of cinnamon buttercream and a pinch of cinnamon sugar. One batch makes 12 cupcakes in about 38 minutes of prep and baking, plus cooling time before you frost.

Half a cup of sour cream in the batter keeps the crumb moist for days and gives the slight tang you expect from a snickerdoodle. The frosting is plain butter, powdered sugar and cinnamon, whipped until it pipes in clean ridges.

What Makes a Cupcake Taste Like a Snickerdoodle

A snickerdoodle cookie is a butter cookie rolled in cinnamon sugar, with a faint tang that traditionally comes from cream of tartar. These cupcakes skip it. The cinnamon goes into the batter (1½ teaspoons), into the frosting (another 1½ teaspoons) and onto the top, and the tang comes from sour cream instead.

The cinnamon sugar dusting at the end is what makes people say “snickerdoodle” before they take a bite. It is the same finish I use on snickerdoodle bars with cinnamon sugar crust, and it gives the soft frosting a little crunch.

Butter, Two Sugars and Sour Cream

Use room-temperature butter: it should dent when you press it but not look shiny or greasy. Beaten with ¾ cup granulated sugar and ¼ cup packed brown sugar, it traps the air that keeps these cupcakes light. I never skip that step, even in a rush, because it changes the texture entirely.

The brown sugar adds a soft caramel note that rounds out the cinnamon. Keep it at ¼ cup. Any more weighs the batter down and the cupcakes come out heavier.

For the sour cream, I have compared it with Greek yogurt in my notes. Yogurt makes the cupcakes a little denser, and sour cream gives a softer, bakery-style bite, so I always come back to it. Whole milk matters too, and not just for richness. I have tried lower-fat milk here, and the crumb dried out faster.

Creaming, Mixing and Baking

Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C), line a standard muffin tin with 12 liners, and whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together in a medium bowl so the leavening and spice are spread evenly before any liquid touches them. In a larger bowl, beat the butter and both sugars on medium for 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture turns pale and fluffy.

Beat in the 2 eggs one at a time, then the vanilla and sour cream. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk, starting and ending with the dry. Stop the mixer as soon as no flour streaks remain. Overmixing at this point is what turns a tender cupcake chewy.

Fill each liner about ¾ full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. They are done when a toothpick in the centre comes out clean and the tops spring back when pressed. Leave them in the pan for 5 minutes, then move them to a rack and let them cool completely. Be patient here. Even a slightly warm cupcake will melt the frosting.

All-Purpose or Cake Flour?

All-purpose. I tried both for this recipe, and cake flour gave a cupcake that was too fragile to hold a tall swirl of buttercream and tasted drier by the next day. All-purpose gives enough structure for the frosting while the sour cream and whole milk keep it soft.

If you usually reach for cake flour for light layer cakes, this is the exception. A cupcake carrying this much frosting needs a sturdier crumb.

Cinnamon Buttercream for Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

The snickerdoodle frosting is a cinnamon buttercream: 1 cup softened butter, 3½ cups sifted powdered sugar, 1½ teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon vanilla, a pinch of salt and 1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk. That is enough for a tall piped swirl on all 12 cupcakes.

Butter first, on its own, until smooth and creamy. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, then the cinnamon, vanilla and salt. Sift the sugar. Unsifted lumps never fully beat out, and the frosting tastes gritty. Add the cream a tablespoon at a time and stop when the frosting holds a soft peak on the beater. For a stronger cinnamon flavour, go up to 2 teaspoons.

Prefer Cream Cheese Frosting?

A cream cheese frosting with a teaspoon or so of cinnamon beaten in works well on these cupcakes if you like more tang. Start from this easy cream cheese frosting and keep the frosted cupcakes in the fridge. For a plain topping, vanilla buttercream is the mild option, and a full batch of cinnamon buttercream frosting is there if you need more for a cake.

Piping and the Cinnamon Sugar Finish

Fit a piping bag with a large star tip and pipe from the outside edge in toward the centre, lifting up as you finish. If the frosting droops or the ridges blur, the butter has warmed; chill the bag for 10 to 15 minutes. Cracking at the tip? Too stiff. Beat in a little more cream.

Last, the topping. Stir 1 tablespoon granulated sugar with ½ teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle it over the frosted tops right away, while the surface is still tacky enough to hold it.

Keeping Them Soft for Days

Store frosted cupcakes in an airtight container for up to 2 days at room temperature or up to 4 days in the fridge. If they have been chilled, let them sit out for about 30 minutes so the buttercream softens. I serve them at room temperature, and they travel well to potlucks because the swirl holds its shape.

To get ahead, I often bake them the night before an event and frost in the morning. Unfrosted cupcakes can also be wrapped tightly and frozen for up to 2 months; thaw them in their wrapping so condensation does not soak the tops, then frost.

On a fall dessert table, I like them next to something creamy like pumpkin pie or something crisp like an apple tart. For more cinnamon sugar bakes, try snickerdoodle blondies, snickerdoodle cobbler, cheesecake swirl snickerdoodle bars or brown butter snickerdoodle bars. More cupcake ideas for the season are in these fall cupcake ideas. Save this to your fall baking board, and let me know in the comments how your batch turned out.