These Harry Potter Butterbeer Cupcakes will cast a spell on your taste buds and leave you in a state of geeky bliss! Loaded with delicious flavors of toffee, butterscotch, caramel, and vanilla.
It’s that time of year again! Every December, Matt and I have a Harry Potter marathon, I don’t even remember how long we’ve been doing it, but I always try to bake up something delicious for us to enjoy with it!
Last year I made these Butterbeer Pudding Cookies and they’ve been one of my most popular recipes to date! We’ve made them over and over again, tried different variations and I even made them for a wedding in September! One reader is commented that the cookies “smell like unicorns,” here’s to hoping these cupcakes are just as good!
Personally, I think they’re freakin’ amazing and might just be the best cupcakes I’ve ever made, they taste like french toast and butterbeer had a baby! See, now you really want one!
Fun Ways To Dress Up Your Cupcakes!
These cupcakes are light and fluffy with toffee bits throughout that make for a nice little punch of flavor. Then they’re dipped in a rich butterscotch sauce and finished with a whipped butterbeer frosting and some lightning bolt sprinkles.
I know there’s a fair amount of people who don’t like to use flavoring or extracts, but please be aware that the imitation butter flavor is KEY in this recipe and CANNOT just be replaced with melted butter. You can find the imitation butter extract in the baking aisle with other flavorings, extracts, and food colors.
So Harry Potter lovers, are you guys excited for the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movie? I know I am, anything to keep the Harry Potter universe alive, right? The trailer comes out next week and I’m pretty pumped, especially because I adore Eddie Redmayne and know he’s going to do an amazing job!
Also, have you guys picked up a copy of the new Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Illustrated Edition? It’s absolutely gorgeous and I can’t wait to start collecting the books all over again!
I purchased the Harry Potter cupcake liners on Etsy and put them on over the two regular liners so the sauce wouldn’t make them all nasty. They are made out of copied book pages, and as a book lover, they were just too perfect.
The lightning bolt sprinkles used in the photos are no longer made, but you can find some similar ones here. You could also top the cupcakes with sugar lightning bolts. Or buy Harry Potter Chocolate Molds To Top Your Cupcakes With!
More Harry Potter Creations!
- Butterbeer No Bake Cookies
- Harry Potter Butterbeer Pancakes
- Harry Potter Party
- Harry Potter Quidditch Jersey Tutorial
- Harry Potter’s Butterbeer Fudge
- His & Hers Harry Potter Mugs
- Golden Snitch Truffles
- Hogwarts House Crest Ornaments
- Harry Potter DIY Golden Snitch Ornament
- Butterbeer Poke Cake
- Amortentia Love Potion
Harry Potter Butterbeer Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon imitation butter extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup cream soda
- 1 cup Heath Toffee Bits not the ones with chocolate
Sauce:
- 3/4 cup butterscotch chips
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
Frosting:
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1/3 cup butterscotch instant pudding mix dry
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tsp imitation butter extract
Toppings:
Instructions
Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Line cupcake pan with liners.
- Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized bowl and stir with a whisk until well mixed and smooth.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat together the eggs, oil, extracts, and buttermilk.
- Beat in the dry ingredients and the cream soda, alternating between the two until batter is smooth.
- Mix in the toffee bits.
- Add 1/4 cup batter to each cupcake liner and bake for 18-22 minutes.
- Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool. Bake remaining cupcakes.
- Meanwhile, make the sauce by placing the butterscotch chips in a small metal bowl and heating the heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Bring cream to a simmer, then pour it over the butterscotch chips. Let set for 3-4 minutes.
- After time has passed, whisk cream and chips together until a rich sauce forms. Transfer to the fridge to cool and thicken for about 30 minutes.
- Prepare frosting by combining all ingredients in a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachments and beat on medium-high for about 3-4 minutes until a light and fluffy frosting forms. Transfer frosting to a pastry frosting bag or to a dessert decorating tool.
- Remove sauce from the fridge, roll out a piece of wax paper on a flat surface, dip the tops of the cupcakes in the sauce and place on the wax paper and let set for 15 minutes.
- Place each cupcake in a second liner to cover up the stickiness.
- Pipe frosting onto the cupcakes and finish with sprinkles.
Video
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Sarah says
Hi there,
I made these today and they were wonderful. My frosting turned a golden brown because of the butterscotch pudding. What brand do you use for your pudding because yours is a cream colored frosting?
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Sarah, so glad you enjoyed the cupcakes. I use Jell-O brand. Not sure why it might have turned out darker.
Melissa says
These baked beautifully! The frosting is gorgeous, not too too sweet. I didn’t end up getting any sprinkles, so instead I drizzled mine with some of the leftover butterscotch sauce and then topped every other one with glasses and lightning bolt cupcake toppers I bought on etsy.
I’m taking them to my Harry Potter themed New Year’s Eve party tomorrow and I’m sure everybody’s going to love them. Thanks.
Rebecca Hubbell says
That sounds like an awesome NYE party to me! I hope everyone enjoys the cupcakes!
Arthi Sriram says
Thank you so much Rebecca for the wonderful recipe. I made a spooky cake for my daughter’s 13th birthday as her theme was Harry Potter. But she was like mom just the cake?? So I just browsed & found this interesting recipe of your’s. I made 1& 1/2 of your recipe & got 28 perfect muffins. Since I couldn’t get imitation butter & butter scotch pudding mix at the last minute near my store I was little worried. I used vanilla extract instead & white chocolate pudding mix to stabilize the whipping cream. It was a big hit with not only kids but with grownup’s too. Still holding onto some sauce & frosting worried might eat it just like that!! Thank you again
Rebecca Hubbell says
Yay, I’m so glad you all enjoyed it!
Jess says
So I made these cupcakes for a work party. I made them the night before and kept them in the fridge, and they were just fine. I had one co-worker tell me that eating the cupcakes was a religious experience, and another said they were the best cupcakes she’d ever had. I loved them as well, and had to make myself stop eating the frosting. (So good!)
Rebecca Hubbell says
I’m so glad they were a hit, that frosting is pretty addictive, eh? And a religious experience… I’ll take it!
Heather says
Have you (or anyone) tried using butterscotch buttercream for the frosting instead? I’m in Texas and it’s always hot so I don’t want to make anything cream/pudding based. I’d use the same butterscotch sauce to flavor the frosting. Thoughts on this?
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Heather, I’m not too familiar with butterscotch cream, is it like a sauce? If so, I would recommend using the measurements for my Salted Caramel buttercream and replacing the caramel with the butterscotch. https://www.sugarandsoul.co/salted-caramel-frosting/
Heather Gonyo says
Can you use self-rising flour instead?
Rebecca says
I wouldn’t, self-rising flour should only be used in recipes that specifically call for it.
Gina says
Big Potterhead here. My 11 yr old made these in honor of the 25th anniversary of Sorcerers Stone.
They. Are. AWESOME!!! Super moist, surprising not as sweet as I thought. Couldn’t find toffee bits, so we used butterschotch chips, (which sank- but who cares!) the ganache put it over the top! Will totally make these again and again!
Rebecca says
So glad you enjoyed them! Next time, if you use the butterscotch chips again, try mixing them with flour and then shaking off any excess flour, this will help them not sink to the bottom 🙂
Onnelly Mansker says
has anyone made this in round cake pans for a layered cake? If so, how long do you bake it for. I want to make it for a birthday.
Rebecca says
Hi Omnelly, I’ve never made it as a round cake, but I have made it as a 9×13 cake with some minor changes, you can find that recipe here: https://www.sugarandsoul.co/harry-potter-butterbeer-poke-cake/
Christine C says
Why did you cut up book pages? Make copies. Don’t destroy books.
Rebecca says
Hi Christine, If you had taken the time to read the post, you would have read that I didn’t cut up book pages, they were purchased from an Etsy seller and are copied pages.
Tanya says
I made these cupcakes and had some major problems with the frosting. The frosting was way to runny to use. I even tried adding more confectioner sugar to thicken it up but it didn’t work. Any thoughts on what I did wrong?
Rebecca says
Hi Tanya,
It sounds like maybe you didn’t whip it long enough, did you make sure to use heavy cream and not a coffee creamer like half & half?
Teesha says
What brand of cream soda did you use?
Rebecca says
Hi Teesha, I usually use A&W when I make these.
Kelly Dally says
I whipped these together on Sunday night and they turned out amazing! I was a bit worried about so many ingredients and steps but they honestly whipped together quickly and were a gigantic hit. The only item I did not have were the book wrappers. Instead I purchased cupcake wrappers from a local party store that were cream colored with a bit of a subtle pattern. I used my melting wax and Hogwarts and Gryffindor wax seals and decorated each wrapper with a seal. Thank you for this magical recipe! Evanesco!
Rebecca says
Evanesco! Haha, you kill me! I’m so glad you enjoyed them and they really do look more intimidating than they actually are!
Lane & Holly @ With Two Spoons says
These are so beautiful! My daughter would love this!
Natalie says
I’ve never had anything butterbeer- that has got to change! These look delicious!
Rebecca says
Oh, it must!
Megan @ MegUnprocessed says
Potter fans will love this!
Ed says
OMG! CRYING
Diane Lewis says
Have you tried these as mini cupcakes before?
Also – I want to make part(s) of these in advance, as the day of the party I don’t have time to do a lot of baking or prep. I assume I can make and freeze the cupcakes ahead of time – does everything else have to be done the day of? The day before? What do you recommend?
Rebecca says
Hi Diane, I’ve never made these cupcakes in advance so I can’t speak to how they would be if frozen, but cupcakes are frozen often and I’m sure it would be fine as long as it was done right. However, the frosting should be made up as close to serving as possible and once frosted the cupcakes shouldn’t get too hot since the frosting is made with whipped cream and can break if it gets too hot.
Kristen says
I just wanted you to know that I made this recipe for our family dessert competition. This year the “secret ingredient” was butterscotch and I was up against my siblings and my parents (4 entries in all) and we won with these DELICIOUS cupcakes! I used the same presentation and everything from your pictures. Thanks again for the delicious recipe and helping me win our bake-off!
Rebecca says
How fun! I’m so glad you won and enjoyed the recipe!
Kathie says
I haven’t tasted the cupcakes yet, but I have no doubt they will be delicious. My question is, what decorating tip did you use? My frosting didn’t look as good as yours on the cupcakes.
Rebecca says
I used a large star tip!
Rhiannon says
I made an “Aussie version” as I don’t have access to some of the ingredients!
Turned out great. Might have some left for the party tonight if I stop eating them…