Honeycomb Cupcakes with Whipped Honey Frosting

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POV: Soft light streaming in the windows, and a batch of honeycomb cupcakes is baking in the oven. There’s something about a honey-sweet dessert in the Spring that just feels right. These honeycomb cupcakes are cozy, bright, and the kind of treat that deserves to be the center of a shower table or a weekend brunch. 

These cupcakes are sweet, without being overpowering. Honeycomb cereal is blended into a fine flour and folded into the cupcake batter to infuse the right amount of honey flavor into each bite. Each cupcake is slightly dense, yet still feels light when topped with creamy whipped honey frosting. And each cupcake gets crowned with a 

They’re playful, fun, and just different enough to make a statement! Let’s dive into the honey–sweet details!

Why You’ll Love These Honeycomb Cupcakes

• Perfect for parties! The light honeycomb flavor in these cupcakes makes them a fun dessert to serve at baby showers, bridal showers or any gathering this spring.  
• It’s a bit nostalgic. Everyone has vivid childhood memories of eating honeycomb cereal before school. Our goal was to take that nostalgic flavor and blend it into the batter to bring back childhood memories with each bite.
• They’re bakery-level fancy, but amateur-level easy! Even though these cupcakes look a little extra, they are actually surprisingly easy to make. 

How to Make Honeycomb Cupcakes Step-by-Step

Step 1. Prep the muffin tin for baking.

Start by lining muffin tins with muffin liners and preheating the oven to 325ºF.

If you don’t have muffin liners, grease each well with butter or cooking spray. Make sure the bottoms and corners are greased well, so you can remove the cupcake easier after baking.

Step 2. Pulse cereal into powder and mix dry ingredients.

Start by blending the honeycomb cereal into a fine powder. Add 1/2 cup of cereal to a food processor and blend until a fine powder forms. You want it to resemble a flour-like texture. That way, it will seamlessly blend into the batter without being grainy. 

Whisk together cereal flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. This will be the dry ingredient mixture that you will add to the batter after creaming butter and sugar.

Step 3. Cream butter and sugar.

Next step is cream butter and sugar. Make sure the butter is either room temperature or just softened before you cream the sugar and butter.

If the butter is too cold, it will be more difficult to incorporate into the other ingredients. Once butter is creamy, add in sugar and whisk until blended. 

Next add in one egg at a time, making sure each egg is blended before adding the next one. Whisk in vanilla extract and you’re ready to start mixing in the flour mixture and buttermilk.

Step 4. Alternate adding in flour and buttermilk.

We love using buttermilk in cupcakes is that it makes the most tender crumb. And even though buttermilk can smell and taste sour, it only leaves a slight tangy taste to the cake. Depending on the flavor of your cake, you may not even notice it’s there.

Alternate adding flour and buttermilk into the mixture. You’ll start by adding in half of your flour, mixing on medium-low until blended, before adding in half of the buttermilk. You’ll repeat this step another time. 

Alternating both dry and wet ingredients is going to make a smooth batter without over mixing.

Step 5. Fill muffin tins and bake!

Fill each muffin tin until it’s about 3/4 full. You should have enough batter to bake 12-14 cupcakes, depending on the size of your muffin tin. Bake in a preheated oven for about 18-22 minutes until the edges are golden brown.

Step 6. Make whipped honey frosting. 

The whipped honey frosting is has a bright, yet delicate honey flavor that takes these cupcakes to a whole other level. While the cupcakes are cooling, whip together your frosting! Here’s what you’ll do:

1. Make whipped honey. This is super easy to do. Add honey to the bowl of your electric mixer and whisk on high until the honey is light in color and looks creamy. Remove the whipped honey from the bowl and quickly clean the bowl to make your frosting. 
2. Make cream cheese icing base. Blend cream cheese and butter until creamy. Next, mix in salt and vanilla. Lastly, pour in powdered sugar and blend until all the powdered sugar has blended into the mixture.
3. Mix in whipped honey. Mix until just combined

Generously frost cupcakes and garnish each cupcake with a piece of honeycomb cereal.

Tips for the perfect cupcake frosting….

• Use unsalted butter. This way you have more control over the flavor of the cake. Don’t over mix the batter. Overtaxing the batter can overwork the gluten in the cake, resulting in a tougher texture. One reason you alternate mixing in flour and buttermilk into the cake is to evenly mix the batter without over mixing.
• Use room temperature butter and eggs. Room temperature eggs are going to blend better into the batter, making it smoother.
• Don’t over mix cream cheese.Over whipping the cream cheese will whip too much air into the icing and will make it too thin. You just want to whip it until creamy.
• Add whipped honey at the end. You want to make sure your frosting base comes together before adding the whipped honey into the frosting.
• Make frosting right before you’re ready to frost the cupcakes. That way your frosting is the right consistency and fresh!

How to Make Whipped Honey

Start by making your whipped honey. It’s super easy to make. All you need is honey and an electric mixer to whip air into the honey. Add honey to the bowl of your electric mixer and whisk on high until the honey is light in color and looks creamy. As the honey is whisked, air is whipped into the honey making it a lighter in flavor and texture. 

How to Store and Serve These Cupcakes

Store iced cupcakes at room temperature in a airtight container, like a cupcake carrier or cake carrier.

If you are making cupcakes ahead of time, we recommend icing the cupcakes right before you’re ready to serve.

1. Let the cupcakes cool completely before storing.
2. Store cupcakes an airtight container or plastic bag, at room temperature for 2-3 days. You can also store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, but they may lose some of their moisture in the fridge.  
3. We recommend making frosting when you’re ready to ice the cupcakes. That way the icing is fresh! If you make frosting ahead of time, you can store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

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