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Home / All Recipes / Cuisine / American

Eggnog Cupcakes with Caramel Eggnog Buttercream

Total Time: 38 minutes
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Moist and flavorful eggnog cupcakes are topped with a caramel eggnog buttercream in these festive and seasonal Eggnog Cupcakes with Caramel Eggnog Buttercream.

PIN IT FOR LATER!

If you love eggnog, also try this Eggnog Bread with Eggnog Glaze or this Eggnog Croissant Bread Pudding with Caramel Eggnog Syrup.

Eggnog cupcakes topped with caramel eggnog buttercream, caramel drizzle, and fresh nutmeg.

Are you an eggnog fan?

I’ve never been a big fan of drinking milk – I just don’t love the feeling of the thick liquid in my mouth and throat, and eggnog is like milk x 10. So these days, it’s usually on a few sips until I’m done.

But that eggnog flavor?

I’m totally in.

Which is why I get excited when the holidays come around and I can use eggnog in different recipes. Like these eggnog cupcakes.

These Eggnog Cupcakes are topped with a Caramel Eggnog Buttercream. The addition of the caramel adds something different to these cupcakes than your typical eggnog cupcake. I loved the buttercream and really just wanted to eat it with a spoon.

If you are looking for the flavors of the season, these Eggnog Cupcakes with Caramel Eggnog Buttercream are your answer!

Eggnog Cupcake on a cutting board with fresh nutmeg on the side.

Tips and Tricks

I used dulce de leche for the caramel in this recipe, but I learned that there are actually 2 different kinds of dulce de leche sold in the grocery store. I intended to buy the can, but my grocery store didn’t have any. But they did have dulce de leche in a plastic squeeze bottle. So I bought it. It worked perfectly in this recipe, but that bottled caramel is definitely different than the canned caramel. I wish they would label them differently, because they are not the same consistency at all – the canned dulce de leche is pretty thick, while the bottled is a lot more pourable.

You can make the cupcakes up to 2 days in advance. Just make sure they stay covered at room temperature.

Once frosted, I store the cupcakes in the refrigerator. Do not drizzle with the caramel until you are ready to serve.

Eggnog cupcake on a cutting board with a bite taken from it.

More Holiday Cake and Cupcake Recipes

Bûche de Noël (Yule Log Cake)
Cranberry Cake with Warm Butter Sauce
Gingerbread Cookie Cupcakes
Cranberry Orange Cupcakes
Lemon Pomegranate Cupcakes

Eggnog cupcakes topped with caramel eggnog buttercream, caramel drizzle, and fresh nutmeg.

Eggnog Cupcakes with Caramel Eggnog Cupcakes

5 from 1 vote
Author: Deborah Harroun
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Total Time: 38 minutes
Servings: 16 cupcakes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Print Pin
Moist and flavorful eggnog cupcakes are topped with a caramel eggnog buttercream in these festive and seasonal Eggnog Cupcakes with Caramel Eggnog Buttercream.

Ingredients

Eggnog Cupcakes:

  • 1/2 cup butter at room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon rum extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 cup eggnog

Caramel Eggnog Buttercream

  • 1 cup butter at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup dulce de leche or caramel sauce*
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon rum extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • pinch of salt
  • pinch of cinnamon
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1-2 tablespoons eggnog
  • freshly grated nutmeg for decorating
  • additional dulce de leche* for decorating

Instructions

Make the cupcakes:

  • Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line 16-18 muffin tins with cupcake liners.
  • In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating for a full minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and rum extracts.
  • In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat just until combined. With the mixer still running, slowly add half of the eggnog. Add in another one-third of the flour mixture, followed by the remaining eggnog, then the remaining flour, beating after each addition, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
  • Fill each of the cups 2/3 full of the batter. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Make the buttercream:

  • In the bowl of a mixer, cream the butter until very light and fluffy, several minutes. Add in the dulce de leche, vanilla extract, rum extract, nutmeg, salt and cinnamon and beat to combine. Add in the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating until fully incorporated. Add in the eggnog 1 teaspoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency.

To decorate:

  • Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes using your desired tip. (I used the Ateco 809 round tip.) Grate nutmeg over the tops of the cupcakes, the drizzle with dulce de leche. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.

Recipe Notes:

*The dulce de leche that I used in this recipe was NOT the canned dulce de leche. It was the Nestle Le Lechera brand that comes in a plastic squeeze bottle. This dulce de leche is thinner and more pourable than the canned caramel.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1cupcake, Calories: 407kcal (20%), Carbohydrates: 56g (19%), Protein: 4g (8%), Fat: 19g (29%), Saturated Fat: 12g (75%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 79mg (26%), Sodium: 273mg (12%), Sugar: 44g (49%)
Keywords: eggnog cupcake, eggnog recipe, holiday cupcake

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Comments

  1. Jennifer Jordan says

    5 stars
    Unbelievable. I picked this recipe for my 1st try at Eggnog Cupcakes. I wouldn’t change a thing about this recipe. Followed to a tee. Brought them to work and they were a hit. Must make more now!

    Reply

  2. Megan says

    These look great but the cake recipe says to add half the egg nog and I’m not seeing where ads the second half? Or is it really just a 1/2 cup in the cake and not a 1 cup?

    Reply

    • Deborah says

      I’m so sorry! There was a typo in the recipe and it said to add the rest of the nutmeg instead of the eggnog. I have fixed the recipe, so it should be correct now!

      Reply

    • Deborah says

      I used unsalted butter. Feel free to use salted butter, but you might want to cut back on the salt amount in the recipe.

      Reply

  5. Katlin says

    I just made these today! I LOVED the light nutmeg flavor of the cake, but I felt like the frosting wasn’t flavorful enough. I made it as written at first, but I wound up using a total of 1½ tsp. rum extract, 3/4 tsp. nutmeg, and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon.

    Reply

  6. Shelly says

    Oh these looks so much good and delicious! I love how fluffy and tall the eggnog frosting is, plus the caramel drizzle – these look amazing.

    Reply

  11. Chels R. says

    Oh heaven help me, this looks amazing. I LOVED eggnog when I was a kid, but since becoming an adult, I can’t down it the same way I used to. Like 2 sips and I’m done-but I love the flavor and I bet it is delicious in this cupcake.

    Reply