The best baked goods include some kind of pleasant surprise. Maybe it's an unexpected flavor combination or a delightful texture that's smoother than anything you thought possible. Or maybe it's a secret pocket of extra flavor tucked inside a seemingly ordinary dessert—these are the baked goods that are impossible to eat without smiling.
The ideal canvas to stuff a delicious surprise inside? Stuffed Cupcakes!
From the outside, filled cupcakes may seem unremarkable. But with a little creativity and some technical skills, they can be just as impressive as full-sized cakes. After all, Cupcakes are mini cakes. They deserve the same attention and treatment as big cakes – if not more since they are small and cute!
When filled with butter, delicious cottage cheese, rich ganacheor even pastry cream topped with colorful sprinkles, filled cupcakes are the epitome of joyful baking.
How to make filled cupcakes
You'll master the basic process of how to fill a cupcake after a batch or two. Start with tried-and-true flavor pairings, and then let your inner wild scientist-meets-baker loose and dream up unique combinations to try.
There are a few simple guidelines to keep in mind when making filled cupcakes. The first is about the cake itself: can you use any cupcake recipe to make filled cupcakes?
The good news is that the answer is yes – mostly.
Choose the right base
Cupcakes that are meant to be filled should be firm enough to withstand the removal of their centers and not crumble completely on the first bite.
Most standard cupcake recipes are up to the task: cream (butter and sugar), oil based, hot milkand even some cakes with special diets like gluten free AND those made without sugar can be filled.
You can even start with a basic cake recipe, turn it into cupcakesand then fill them.
So what types of cakes or cupcake recipes I won't work like hotcakes? Avoid the following for best results:
- Spain: Cake with dough like foam (as Angel food cake) tend to be very dry and more likely to absorb the filling.
- Sweets with a lot of thick mixture (like Kitchen Sink Carrot Cake.): This can make it difficult to remove the center of the cake.
- Sweets that they do not have a typical cake-like texture: Cream-based desserts (eg cheesecake) or dense, flourless cakes they are not the best choices for filling. Of course, any kind cupcake with molten center is off the table here too.
In general, use a recipe that yields delicious cupcakes soft but also strong and skip any mixing.
Choose the right filling
To the filling! The same philosophy applies to the delicious centers of your filled cupcakes: almost any rime, cottage cheese, pastry creamOR fruit spread it can work. Here are some of our favorites:
Think about biting into a cupcake—you don't want anything that's too dense or sticky. (Marshmallow spread makes the cut and so it does caramel(as long as it's cooked to the soft-ball stage to avoid creating a hard center.)
Avoid fillers that are not stable at room temperature (like ice cream or semifreddo); have a very liquid and runny viscosity (they will be absorbed by the cake and disappear); or they are difficult to separate or pipe into a well the size of your thumb. This little well is exactly where we're going next!
Make cupcake cores
To make room for the delicious filling, the cupcakes should be cored or the centers removed. Some bakers like to use a cake stand for this – a metal cylinder that is about 3/4″ in diameter and 2″ long. You can also use a similarly sized metal pastry tip or a simple paring knife.
Once the cupcakes are completely baked and cooled, insert the core or open end of the pastry tip into the center of the cupcake, pressing it about three-quarters of the way through the cupcake. Rotate the core a few times and then remove it.
Sometimes the center will come out when you remove the core or your knife. If not, use your fingers to scoop out the core. Ideally, the hole left behind is deep (room for lots of filling!) but not all the way to the bottom (in which case you'll have a drippy cupcake). Using cupcake paper it helps provide extra security so that if you make your cuts a little too deep, any errant filling will be contained.
If the cupcakes look like they're getting too firm during this forming stage, refrigerate them for about 10 to 15 minutes to help them firm up. They will cut more cleanly and return to their soft, spongy texture after thawing.
Add the filling
Once your cupcakes are crushed, they're ready for filling! Depending on the consistency of your filling, choose a tool that will make the job of dividing it into centers easier:
- For pastry cream or cream, a piping bag is useful here.
- For looser filling like caramel sauceone spoon will be enough.
- For spoon fillings like lemon curd, a teaspoon of cookies works well and helps ensure even distribution.
When you're ready to fill your cupcakes, use your tool of choice to generously add the filling to the top of the hole. (They're called “stuffed caps” for a reason—pack that delicious filling in there!)
Let the fillings cool for a few minutes, then close any centers that seem low. You can refrigerate the cupcakes at this point if you want to encourage the fillings to harden. Just be sure to let them come to room temperature before serving if they are butter-based cupcakes, which harden as they cool. Butter-based cupcakes will retain their spongy texture when cooled, so this style of cupcake is a good match for cold toppings.
Bottom Line: Chilling the cupcakes will make them easier to handle during the next step – frosting.
Top with frosting
Top your drool-worthy cupcakes with your choice of frosting or topping. Use the skills you would normally use to frost cupcakes, pipeline an elegant design above, if you wish.
If your filling is thick enough, you can maybe dip the tops of your cupcakes into a bowl of warm chocolate ganache. However, this move is for dessert adventurers. Instead, I'll take the safe route and pipe dollops of chocolate frosting on top, leaving the filling to nestle safely inside.
Experiment with flavor combinations
Easy, right? Bake the cupcakes, whip up a filling, pipe the center, fill and freeze! Then you'll have a dessert that looks like it belongs on the cover of one baking magazine.
One thing to keep in mind throughout these steps is the flavor profile you are building. You have at least three options to choose the ingredients that will contribute to the overall taste: the cake, the filling and the cream.
Remember when you bake, you are in charge; the only person putting up the guardrails for fragrance is you. There are some classic flavor pairings that just work, while other more creative options can be surprisingly cool. Here are some cupcake filling combinations that include a little of both:
These are just a taste of all the possible flavor combinations – start thinking outside the cake box. Which flavors appeal to you the most? How can you combine them in new ways and use a variety of textures to create a uniquely delicious cake experience?
At the end of the day and at the end of the cake, baking is about joy. So collect your favorite cakefilling, and rime recipes and use them to make filled cupcakes that maximize flavor and happiness. Fill them with love and share them with the people you love – filled cupcakes taste best when eaten among friends and family.
Let us know which flavor combination you think would be tastiest in the comments below. You just might inspire ours test kitchen!
Photos by John Sherman unless otherwise noted.
