If you like Cheerios, you’ll love these Honey Nut Cheerio Cupcakes! A soft honey cupcake made with cereal infused milk is topped with a Honey Nut Cheerio buttercream to create a treat you’ll love.
I’ve been toying with the idea of these cupcakes for a while now. I’ve recently rediscovered my love of cereal, and Honey Nut Cheerios came back as a major favorite. One day while eating a bowl of them, I decided Honey Nut Cheerios crushed up in frosting is probably something that should happen.
And if that Honey Nut Cheerio buttercream ended up slathered on top of some subtly honey flavored, soft, moist cupcakes, well – that would be a good thing, right?
These cupcakes have been in my head for so long that I’ve toyed with so many different options for them. Should I do a filling? Eh…while whipped cream would definitely be good, I decided to keep it simple, and I was glad I did.
The cupcakes come together really quickly and easily, even the cereal milk part. Yes, I said cereal milk. While it’s not 100% necessary, why wouldn’t you want to infuse the milk for the cupcakes with some Honey Nut Cheerio flavor? It’s highly recommended.
The cupcakes uses honey as a flavor, which also adds a gorgeous golden color to the cupcakes. The batter smells seriously delicious between the honey and the cereal milk! The cupcakes bake up golden and puffy. Don’t be scared to fill those muffin tins a good 2/3 full though, or they won’t puff up to the edges of the liners.
The buttercream recipe is traditional, but with the addition of a little honey for flavor and Honey Nut Cheerios crushed into it for wonderful texture and that yummy, nostalgic flavor. Because of the crushed cereal in here, it doesn’t do well piping out of a tip. A big circle tip would likely work well, but I’m lazy so I just plopped it on with an ice cream scoop and smushed the buttercream with a spoon to give it a divot, and garnished with Honey Nut Cheerios. Voila. Some sparkly silver stars made it more fun and just a little whimsical.
This recipe only makes 12 cupcakes, but the recipe is easily doubled or tripled, or even halved. These cupcakes are fun and unique and will be a favorite of any Honey Nut Cheerio fans! Enjoy :)
Honey Nut Cheerio Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup Honey Nut Cheerios lightly crushed
For the buttercream
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup Honey Nut Cheerios crushed
Instructions
For the cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- In a liquid measuring cup, stir together the milk and 1/4 cup Honey Nut Cheerios. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and set aside while you prepare the batter.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs on at the time, scraping the bowl as necessary.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a fork or your clean fingers, remove the cereal from the milk. Discard the cereal. Make sure you still have 1/2 cup milk and add more if necessary. Add the honey and vanilla extract to the milk and whisk together.
- Gradually add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, mix to combine. Add 1/2 of the wet ingredients, mix. Repeat, ending with dry ingredients.
- Divide the batter between 12 muffin cups, they should be about 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the buttercream
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter for 5 minutes on medium speed. Butter will become pale & creamy.
- Add the powdered sugar, honey, milk or heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Mix on low speed for 1 minute, and then on medium speed for 5 minutes. Add in crushed Honey Nut Cheerios and mix to incorporate completely, about 1 minute.
- Frost cooled cupcakes immediately.
Recipe Notes
Cupcake recipe adapted from The Cake Blog
Monica says
This is so creative and sounds delicious! I want to give you a virtual high-five! ; ) Love the thought and details in the flavor of the cupcake, plus how they look. The cupcake liners are adorable.
Ashley | The Recipe Rebel says
This is a fantastic idea! They look gorgeous and I can just imagine how good they are! Pinned :)
Medha (Whisk and Shout) says
That cereal milk is so smart! These are so unique and I love your photos. Pinned! :)
Natalie @ Tastes Lovely says
This is too cute! I love honey nut cheerios. My freshman year of college, the cafeteria had 3 cereals, lucky charms, honey nut cheerios and raisin bran. Of course I picked honey nut cheerios! I bet I ate that for breakfast every day for 9 months. Haha! Can’t wait to make the cupcake version : )
Phi @ The Sweetphi Blog says
How absolutely adorable are these? I’m going to a 3 year olds birthday this weekend and am totally going to make these to bring along!
Abby says
I absolutely MUST bake these cupcakes, Rachel! I’m cereal obsessed, and honey nut cheerios have always been a favorite of mine. This idea is so genius! <3
Nora @ Savory Nothings says
This is so much fun! I try not to have cereal around too much because I will definitely eat the entire box within a day, but I might just have to make an exception to my rule for these adorable cupcakes :)
Michelle | A Latte Food says
These are brilliant! So incredibly adorable and festive! Plus, I am a cereal fanatic so these are right up my alley :-)
Patricia @ Grab a Plate says
Super fun recipe! Love these!
[email protected] Chef says
Simply damn delicious sweet bites !!!
[email protected] Chef
Sneha says
I absolutely MUST bake these cupcakes, Rachel! I’m cereal obsessed, and honey nut cheerios have always been a favorite of mine.Love the thought and details in the flavor of the cupcake, plus how they look. The cupcake liners are adorable. :)
Rachel says
Thanks so much, Sneha! The cupcake liners were actually a gift from my housemate’s mom – aren’t they cute?!
Sneha says
:) :)
Sarah @Whole and Heavenly Oven says
Oh my gosh, how totally fun are these cupcakes?! My family would go completely nuts over these if I made them for our next birthday party! Gorgeous photos too, Rachel!
Ashley says
How fun are these??? I used to eat honey nut cheerios like crazy as a kid! But I haven’t had them in ages now!
[email protected] says
What a creative idea, these look delicious! My mom loves Honey Nut Cheerios, I bet she would adore these!
Annie @Maebells says
You nailed it!! These are amazing!
June @ How to Philosophize with Cake says
Ah those were my childhood! I love cereal milk desserts, they’re always so fun and creative :)
Shelby @ Go Eat and Repeat says
These cupcakes are adorable! I’d never thought of putting cereal on cupcakes before but now I’m thinking Lucky Charms would be pretty amazing on cupcakes!
Laura @ Laura's Culinary Adventures says
How fun! Honey nut cherrios are yummy enough as a bowl of cereal, amd I’m sure in cupcake form they’re outstanding!
Kristi @ My SF Kitchen says
These are adorable!
Kayle (The Cooking Actress) says
YOU’RE SO BRILLIANT!!! I love these cupcakes-they’re beautiful and fun and that buttercream is singingggg to [email protected]
Allinfopark says
lovely cakes
Nora (A Clean Bake) says
What a completely adorable idea! I used to love Honey Nut Cheerios and haven’t had them in ages!
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
Cheerios definitely remind me of my childhood! I love these little cupcakes and I bet they taste so sweet and delicious.
Gautham says
this is a great idea man.
Sathish says
Loved cupcakes alot……:)
karthik says
Ah those were my childhood! I love cereal milk desserts
ram says
Ah those were my childhood! I love cereal milk desserts
Bernice says
These sound delicious! Do you know if there would be a way to make them dairy free?
My husband and I are celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary soon. We didn’t have much when we got married. Since we couldn’t afford a honeymoon, on our wedding night, we came home exhausted from the day’s celebration and hungry because we didn’t eat much at our reception. We hadn’t purchased groceries for our place yet and had no furniture. So my husband made a quick late night run to the store for some quick and cheap for us to eat. He came home with milk and Honey Nut Cheerios! So we spent the evening just two newlyweds in love chatting and sitting on the floor in our new apartment eating cereal in our wedding attire. Such a fond memory of ours.
My husband loves cupcakes so I think these would be a perfect dessert to celebrate our anniversary. I can’t have any dairy currently though due to breastfeeding our 9 month old son who has a milk protein allergy.
I know they won’t taste the same but do you think they would still taste good if I substituted almond milk for the milk and coconut oil for the butter?
Rachel says
Hi Bernie, wow, what a sweet story! Sounds like the perfect thing to make for your husband for your anniversary :) for the cake, it should be just fine to use coconut oil and almond milk in place of the butter and milk. For the frosting, you may want to use vegan butter or sustainable palm shortenng instead of coconut oil for better flavor. You could also use a premade dairy-free frosting, like Simple Mills, and just stir in a little honey to add some flavor. Hope this helps!