These brown butter cornbread cupcakes have all the flavor of cornbread with the light, fluffy texture of cupcakes! Topped with honey brown butter buttercream frosting, they are the perfect southern dessert!
You might also like these strawberry shortcakes or these cornbread muffins!
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Ingredient Notes
You just need a few simple ingredients to make these cornbread cupcakes!
Flour - A mix of flour and cornmeal yields cornbread cupcakes that are light and fluffy but still have a classic corn flavor! You can use either cake flour or all purpose flour for these cupcakes!
Cornmeal - There are several different types of cornmeal (this is a great article that breaks it down) but for these honey cornbread muffins I recommend using either fine or medium ground yellow cornmeal. You should be able to find it next to the flour in the baking aisle! [Do NOT use self-rising cornmeal for this recipe.]
Buttermilk - If you don't have buttermilk you can use either regular whole milk or sour cream! You can also make your own buttermilk by using ½ cup whole milk and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice!
Brown Butter - My favorite ingredient of all time is brown butter!! Brown butter is just unsalted butter that has been melted and gently cooked to bring out a toasty, nutty flavor. If you've never made brown butter before, you can check out this post with all my tips for how to make brown butter!
Since both the cupcakes and frosting call for brown butter, I find it easier to just make one large batch and then weigh out the difference using a kitchen scale (½ cup of butter weighs about 113 grams).
However, if you don't have a scale you can just make two separate batches of brown butter!
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
How to Make Cornbread Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
Whisk the cake flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the brown butter, sugar, and honey until smooth.
Then stir in the eggs and vanilla until fully combined.
Stir in half the flour mixture and the buttermilk. Then mix in the rest of the flour until fully incorporated.
Pour about ¼ cup of batter into each cupcake liner (they should be about halfway full).
Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Frost the cooled cupcakes with the brown butter frosting and drizzle with honey.
Tips for the Best Baked Goods
Use room temperature ingredients! Always make sure ingredients like butter, eggs, milk, yogurt, etc. are at room temperature before baking (unless the recipe indicates otherwise)! This ensures they'll incorporate into the batter more easily and leads to overall better texture. Remove all ingredients from the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before baking for best results.
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature.
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Cupcake Decorating Tips
Make sure you let the cornbread cupcakes cool completely before frosting!!
For these big beautiful frosting swirls on these honey cornbread cupcakes, I use the 9FT tip from this decorating kit. The tips are much larger than standard sizes and so fun for decorating cupcakes!
If desired, you can also drizzle on some extra honey, (but that does make things a bit sticky and messy so I only drizzle the ones I plan to eat immediately).
Recipe FAQ's
These cupcakes will last in the fridge for up to 3 days. However, they taste best when served at room temperature! I like to let them sit at room temperature for about an hour before serving.
No, but you should! The brown butter flavor takes both the cupcakes and frosting to the next level! However, you can absolutely substitute regular unsalted butter instead.
Short answer, no! Honey is not a direct replacement for granulated sugar! It's sweeter and has a higher water content than sugar which can affect the outcome of your cupcakes. Sugar also provides more structure to the cupcakes so replacing with honey will make the cupcakes much denser. This recipe was designed with specific measurements of granulated sugar and honey for the perfect balance of flavor and texture.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Cornbread Cupcakes with Honey Brown Butter Buttercream
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- ½ cup unsalted brown butter, melted
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cup cake flour, substitute all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup cornmeal, fine or medium ground
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup buttermilk, substitute milk or sour cream
Honey Brown Butter Buttercream
- 1 cup unsalted brown butter, room temperature
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- Whisk the cake flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the brown butter, sugar, and honey until smooth.
- Then stir in the eggs and vanilla until fully combined.
- Stir in half the flour mixture and the buttermilk. Then mix in the rest of the flour until fully incorporated.
- Pour about ¼ cup of batter into each cupcake liner (they should be about halfway full).
- Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. Let cupcakes cool completely before frosting.
Honey Brown Butter Buttercream
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the room temperature brown butter, honey, and powdered sugar until smooth.
- Add in vanilla and salt until fully combined.
- Beat the frosting on high for 4-5 minutes until lightly and fluffy.
- Frost the cooled cupcakes with the brown butter frosting and drizzle with honey.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Kyleigh Sage says
Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear that!! Can you elaborate a little more on how they didn't turn out? I developed this recipe using just baking powder because I wanted flat topped cupcakes that didn't rise too much, and I've never had any problems. It's possible that your baking powder is expired, in which case a little bit of baking soda would help.
Julie Rosenthal says
I found you randomly and OMG I'm drooling!