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
Did You Make This Recipe?
Don’t forget to share it with me on Instagram @sugarandsoulco and follow on Tiktok @sugarandsoulco and Pinterest @sugarandsoulco for more!
Comments & Reviews
MichelleB says
I have to say… these are absolutdelicious when they’re cold.
Rebecca Hubbell says
That’s good to know, I’m personally not a fan of cold cake, but I’m sure many enjoy it!
Sarah says
Hi Rebecca! I plan to make these for a cupcake war my office is hosting. I just wanted to know how far in advance I can make these without compromising taste and quality. The best I think I can do is dipping the cupcakes in the sauce and adding the whipped cream frosting the morning of (around 5 am) and then refrigerating them until the cupcake war at 3 pm. Do you think this will work alright?
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Sarah, that is exactly what I would do – take the cupcakes out of the fridge an hour or two before serving so they aren’t cold when you eat them, but make sure to keep them out of hot/humid areas.
Sarah says
Hi again, I wanted to update you and tell you that I won first place in my cupcake war with these cupcakes and was told it was by a landslide. Everyone LOVED these! I fully decorated the night prior and they were perfect the following afternoon. I also added fondant glasses and deathly hallows symbol with gold sprinkles because I couldn’t find lightening bolt sprinkles. Thank you for this recipe!
Jen says
I made these for my son’s family party. I honestly was making them because I was intrigued, but figured that most of the family would be turned off by them. I froze half of the cupcakes and frosting to take out later because I didn’t want them wasted. My niece is a huge HP fan, but has told me she doesn’t like butter beer. She tried these and was in heaven. She said these were her new favorite dessert, and has asked me to make them for her birthday. Everyone else agreed, and all the cupcakes I put out were gone. My husband was disappointed he didn’t get to try one.
The cupcake portion itself is delicious, and I personally found I could eat it ‘naked’ as a breakfast muffin.
I was worried it was going to be too sweet once I dipped them in the butterscotch, but the whipped cream topping really helped tone the sweetness down so it’s a great balance of flavor and not over powering. A huge hit in our family. Thank you for sharing!
Rebecca Hubbell says
I’m so glad everyone loved them, Jen! How did they freeze? I’ve never frozen them myself, but might be helpful to other readers who want to make them in advance.
Jen says
They froze really well. When I made them, I made the cupcake part and I dipped them all in the butterscotch sauce. I froze them in a Rubbermaid Take along container. I froze the remaining frosting in a separate container. I defrosted the cupcakes on the counter, and let the frosting defrost in the refrigerator. It all tasted just as good as where the week before for the family party.
Hermione says
thank you so much me and my best friends are making these for a class project, we are also huge Harry Potter fans
Draco Malfoy says
this is amazing I love harry potter made it for a class project everyone loved them so much thanks for an amazing cupcake recipe
Rebecca Hubbell says
So glad everyone enjoyed them! Sounds like a class I’d actually want to be in!
Dawn Shea says
Made this for a Harry Potter themed baby shower and several people said these may be the best cupcakes they’ve ever had. Delicious! I ran a little short on time, so ours were without the the sauce, and we sprinkled butterscotch candies crumbled on top of the frosting to get the golden yellow effect without the sprinkles. Thank you for helping make so many people happy by sharing this fantastic recipe!
Rebecca Hubbell says
What a great theme for a baby shower! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them and I hope you get the chance to make them again!
Michelle Benter says
I just made these and they turned out delicious! I accidentally mixed the butterscotch chips with half n half… lack of sleep I guess! But the sauce still turned out amazing. These cupcakes are fantastic. Now I need to figure out what to do with all of them since I baked them on a whim and it’s just my husband and I. I guess I’ll bring them to the office in the morning and be everyone’s favorite or most hated (dieters) person.
Rebecca Hubbell says
So glad you loved them and yes, they will both love and hate you haha!
Megan Marsh says
Have you ever tried this recipe as a cake? If so, do you know cook times and if the recipe needs to be altered at all to keep it moist?
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Megan, you can find the cake version here: https://www.sugarandsoul.co/harry-potter-butterbeer-poke-cake/
Felicia says
I made this for my husband’s birthday. They we’re delicious! The frosting was amazing! Thanks for sharing a great recipe!
Timarie Neubert says
How well/long does the frosting hold up? Thank you!
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Timarie, It is best consumed the day it is made, but you could make it up to 24 in advance and make sure to store it either in the fridge or in a cool area of the kitchen.
Katie says
Your recipe for the frosting is missing something. I ended up having to add a 1/2 stick of butter to firm it up. Your directions made soup.
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Katie, there’s no need to add butter to the recipe, it’s a whipped cream frosting, you need to whip the cream until it turns into whipped cream.
Katie says
I know. I woke up in the middle of the night and was like OMG it’s whipped creme. I had a moment ~ so sorry.
Dianne says
The store only had the cooking kind of butterscotch pudding so I got that and then saw the comments about needing it to be instant when I was about to make the frosting. So I partially whipped the cream, added the powdered sugar and flavoring and then whipped almost completely. I slowly sprinkled on the pudding powder and beat it in a bit at a time. It turned out fine although I did think it wasn’t quite sweet enough and added a bit more powdered sugar.
Randi Morrison says
So, this recipe was more involved than a lot of things we make at my house, and we are the people who try not to use artificial flavors. We followed the recipe exactly, though. It worked perfectly from a baking standpoint. The cupcakes were beautiful but SO SWEET and the frosting so rich that none of the 10 of us (7 of whom are kids) actually liked them. I think just substituting some cream soda into a vanilla/yellow cupcake recipe and adding toffee or a tiny bit of butterscotch to buttercream would have been as, if not more, effective – at least for kids. Thanks for the ideas, just the same!
Michael says
I’m going to make these for my Harry Potter themed going away party in a few weeks, but my house has no air conditioning and it’s a little warm inside. Would you recommend changing the frosting since it’s whipping cream based? I wonder if I could make it a buttercream somehow instead?
Also I was thinking of adding food coloring to the frosting to make the colors for the 4 houses! I’m so excited to try these!!
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Michael, I think it really depends on where you live. I would imagine that in places like here in New England, the heat will have dissipated a bit in a few weeks and the frosting from the recipe would be fine to use. You can always make the original recipe frosting and chill them as well. A great alternative would be to make a classic buttercream and add some butter extract to it, I have a recipe here: https://www.sugarandsoul.co/classic-vanilla-buttercream-frosting-recipe/ and then drizzle some butterscotch sauce over the top to reach punch the flavor up a bit.
kristy K says
Made these for work. Filled each cupcake with either red, blue, green or yellow frosting. Called them “Sorting Hat” cupcakes….whatever color filling is revealed determines the Hogwarts House you belong in. They were a huge hit.
Rebecca Hubbell says
I’m so glad they were such a hit! I love the idea of the sorting hat too!
Sabrina says
So I couldn’t find INSTANT butterscotch pudding mix for the frosting, all I could find was the cook & serve, would that make a difference? It’s still in a powdered mix form in a box, but has anyone tried it with this type of pudding mix? Will it work? Please help! I would’ve ordered it from Amazon, but it won’t get delivered til Saturday and that’s when I need it by! The party is Saturday! Thank you!!
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Sabrina, I have never tried it with cook and serve, but I don’t believe it will work. If you are still able to run out to the store, I would use an instant vanilla pudding and either butterscotch flavoring or just a drizzle of the ganache over the top of the frosting.
NanaG says
My granddaughter & I made these today and while the cupcakes & butterscotch topping were great, the icing is not a good recipe. There needs to be way more powdered sugar to stiffen the icing or it is still slightly runny at the point the mixture begins to turn to butter! We made the icing 2 times & while it was stiffer the 2nd time, the recipe still needed more powdered sugar. We couldn’t find any of the lightening bolt sprinkles so we did as someone else suggested & drizzled a lightening bolt design on top out of the butterscotch topping. They looked cute to my 8 yr old & tasted great.
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Nana G, I’m sorry to hear that the frosting didn’t turn out for you. There should be a nice fluffy period for the frosting between when it’s liquid and when you hit a butter point with the whipped cream. I make this style frosting weekly and you’ll find it on many of my recipes and never have an issue getting it nice and fluffy. But I’m glad that you enjoyed the cupcakes overall. 🙂
tiff says
i also had a hard time with getting the icing out of liquid form?..
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Tiff, were you using a hand mixer or stand mixer? It takes a few minutes but as long as you’re using a COLD heavy whipping cream it should whip up without issue.
Brooke says
Did you use INSTANT pudding mix? I think that makes a big difference, a cook and serve might cause the whipped cream to stay cream? I don’t know, I didn’t have any issues with it (other than we served them on a crazy hot day, and things sort of melted/sogged…but didn’t matter, they were still amazing!) I wonder if location/sea level matter?
Rebecca Hubbell says
Yes, INSTANT is an absolute must.
Sue Murdock says
I am thinking g of making these for a charity bake sale. Do,they need to be refrigerated?? Items are to be dropped off,the day before.sue
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Sue, personally, I would be hesitant to make these for a bake sale, especially if it’s outside during the summer. Because the frosting is whipped cream based, if it gets too warm it can easily deflate and separate and should be refrigerated if not enjoying the same day. My biggest concern would be that those who might buy them might not realize this and be left with an unedible cupcake if they have other errands to run and it gets left in a hot car. I would recommend trying my Butterbeer Cookies instead, they will hold up to time and travel much better.
Barbara says
I tried your recipe today and the cupcakes tasted fine, but they stuck to the wrapper quite a bit. I think the batter was too wet and I’m wondering if I can skip the cream soda in the recipe? I can’t imagine it adds much to the flavor of the cake, since the vanilla and butter extracts are so strong. Is the cream soda necessary?
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Barbara, I’m sorry this recipe didn’t work for you, but yes, the cream soda is an essential part of the recipe. Removing a 1/2 cup of liquid from the recipe would change it quite a lot. I’ve never had issues with them sticking to the wrapper and many people have made this recipe and never mentioned it being an issue.
Jessi says
Hello! I have made these before and absolutely fell in love. I was wondering if you could perhaps tell me how to adapt them for high altitude? I Just moved to Colorado and can’t figure it out ha. Thank you!
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Jessi, I’m really not sure since I’ve never baked at high altitude. I would recommend googling it and doing some testing.