A traditional King Cake has layers of dough and cinnamon, with a thin glaze and colored sugar. It also, usually, has a small trinket or baby baked inside. The baby, said to represent Baby Jesus, found inside or sometimes placed underneath, and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket has various privileges and obligations.

These King Cake Cupcakes are inspired by the King Cake, with yellow cupcakes and layers of cinnamon and sugar and topped with Cinnamon Buttercream in bright Mardi Gras colors! 

King Cake Cupcakes - Celebrate Mardi Gras with these easy to make cupcakes! Yellow cupcakes and layers of cinnamon and sugar and topped with Cinnamon Buttercream in bright Mardi Gras colors! Pin to your Recipe Board!

I love creating cupcakes for all the fun days throughout the year. And if you don’t celebrate Mardi Gras…these cupcakes are still yummy, just change the color of the frosting and you have an everyday cupcake.

King Cake Cupcakes for Mardi Gras | Recipe on HoosierHomemade.com

There are many different techniques to frost with multiple colors, but this is the one I found to be the easiest.
  1. Mix frosting and place in 3 separate bowls and add coloring
  2. Place each of the frostings in separate ziplock bags – this is an extra step, but it makes filling the decorator bag lots easier
  3. Fit a decorator bag with a #1 M Tip, and place in tall glass
  4. Snip the corner off the ziplock bag and fill the decorator bag with ALL the colors at the same time
  5. After the frosting is in the bag, you may need to pipe some out onto a plate until all the colors come out even

King Cake Cupcakes for Mardi Gras | Recipe on HoosierHomemade.com

It’s also tradition to put a tiny baby or small trinket inside a King Cake. I found these little babies at Wilton.

King Cake Cupcakes for Mardi Gras | Recipe on HoosierHomemade.com

King Cake Cupcakes

King Cake Cupcakes

Celebrate Mardi Gras with these fun and festive King Cake Cupcakes from HoosierHomemade.com.

Ingredients

  • Yellow or Butter flavor Cake Mix
  • 1 cup Buttermilk
  • 1/3 oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Glaze

  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • milk, VERY small drizzle

Instructions

  1. Prepare cake mix with buttermilk, oil and eggs.
  2. In a separate bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon, add melted butter and stir until crumbly.
  3. Add cupcake liners to a muffin pan, spoon about 1 tablespoon cake batter {I use a cookie dough scoop} to each liner.
  4. Sprinkle with cinnamon mixture, add 2 tablespoons more of cake batter.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  6. Cool completely.

Glaze and Decorating

  1. Stir together powdered sugar and milk until desired consistency, you may need to add more milk if it’s too thick.
  2. Spoon glaze in the middle of the cupcake and let it drip down the sides.
  3. Immediately sprinkle with purple, yellow and green colored sugar.

Celebrate Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday with these Mardi Gras Cupcakes! Pin to your Recipe Board!

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