Cinnamon Poke Autumn Cupcakes With Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

I’ve been having lots of fun tweaking classic fall recipes lately. I’ve been adding chocolate, caramel, different types of baking chips, and special frostings and fillings to cupcakes and autumn-themed sweat breads. This week I combined a cinnamon roll poke cake recipe from Cooking Kaluka Club with a chocolate cream cheese frosting recipe from Sugar Spun Run to make Cinnamon Poke Autumn Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting (Both blogs are highly inspirational when it comes to baking). Cream cheese frosting and cinnamon cake go great together-why not add a sweet cinnamon roll filling and make the cream cheese frosting chocolate-flavored?

Ingredients:

Cupcake Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups water

3 eggs (or egg whites)

1/3 cup oil

Filling Ingredients:

14 oz sweetened condensed milk

4 tbsp melted butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 teas. cinnamon

pinch kosher salt

Frosting Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick unsalted cream cheese)

1 block (8 oz) cream cheese

1 teas. vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

Recipe Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and get your cupcake pans ready to go. I just inserted cupcake liners into mine, rather than greasing the pan. Following the directions on my white cake mix box, I combined water, 3 eggs, 1/3 cup of oil, the cake box contents. Additionally, I added one “row” of sprinkles from my big fall sprinkle container that I bought from TJ Maxx.

Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full using a large serving spoon. Set the oven timer for the minutes suggested for cupcakes on your cake mix box, then put the cupcakes in the oven to bake. While they’re baking, let’s get started on the filling. The filling is what gives the cupcakes their sugary cinnamon flavor.

Place butter in a medium-sized bowl, and microwave it for 30-45 seconds to melt. Add sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well.

Place the cupcakes on cooling racks once they’ve finished baking. Poke holes with a round-handled object. We used a metal chopstick. Make sure you poke plenty of holes, so that the cinnamon flavor comes shining through when you bite into the cupcakes. Pour the filling over the cupcake holes (I used my big spoon again), then use a baking spatula to push the filling down into the holes.

Refrigerate the cupcakes for a few minutes while you’re making the Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting. Put the butter and cream cheese into a medium-sized bowl, and microwave it for about 30 seconds. Blend well.

Add vanilla extract, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar. Mix well.

I piped my icing on with a decorator tip. Scoop the icing into the decorator bag (you should already have the tip you want to use inserted at the bottom) and pipe away.