Whether you’re a Kit Kat nut or just a regular chocoholic, these Kit Kat Cupcakes are a WOW-worthy dessert! Delicious homemade chocolate cupcakes topped with Kit Kat frosting, these are the ultimate candy bar cupcake recipe!
Kit Kat Candy Bar Cupcakes Recipe
Kit Kats are one of my all-time favorite candy bars…even as a grown-up! This moist chocolate cupcake with a delicious Kit Kat buttercream frosting is really out of this world!
These cupcakes are a great way to use up your leftover Halloween, Easter, or even Christmas candy! If you are looking for something a little unique, you can’t go wrong with these cupcakes!
Can you imagine what a hit they’d be for a kiddo’s birthday?! (Or someone who is a kid at heart…wink wink!)
What You Need to Make Kit Kat Cupcakes
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Cupcake Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar
- Cocoa Powder — Unsweetened baking cocoa, not to be confused with hot cocoa mix.
- Baking soda AND baking powder
- Salt
- Egg — Allow the egg to come to room temperature
- Buttermilk — Adds a subtle zip to the cupcakes!
- Warm coffee — You can use decaf if making for the family and you don’t want caffeine in the cupcakes!
- Vegetable oil — Or your favorite cooking oil
- Vanilla extract
Frosting Ingredients
- Butter — We recommend unsalted butter for baking, as we already included salt in the recipe itself.
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Heavy cream — You can also substitute with other types of milk, including non-dairy.
- Kit Kats — You’ll crush half of them to incorporate into the frosting, and use the other half to decorate the cupcakes.
Kitchen Supplies Used
- Muffin tin
- Cupcake liners
- Stand mixer — You can also use an electric hand mixer if that’s what you have at home. But if you’ve been eyeing a gorgeous KitchenAid mixer, check out the refurbished options! We bought ours refurbished and saved a ton of money!
- Frosting decorating bag — We love these reusable silicone piping bags because you can wash and use them over and over again. A star tip makes those gorgeous icing swirls that you see at fancy bakeries.
Why is there coffee in the cupcakes?
Believe it or not, you won’t really taste the coffee in the cupcakes!
Coffee is often used in baking to enhance chocolate flavor. So adding coffee to our candy bar cupcakes makes them taste even MORE rich and chocolate-y!
You can use regular or decay, but if making for kids I’d definitely recommend decaf, as caffeine does NOT cook out and will still be in the cupcakes!
Can I use other candy bars?
Sure! We made these with Kit Kats specifically, but you could use this same recipe to make Twix cupcakes, Hershey bar cupcakes, or a spectacular combination!
All you’d have to do is swap out the candy bars used!
Can I use boxed cake mix?
Yep! We provided a recipe to make chocolate cupcakes from scratch, however, if you want to save time you can absolutely use a boxed cake or cupcake mix.
When it comes to frosting, I’d still recommend making your own if possible, as homemade buttercream holds its shape much better than store-bought frosting.
How do I make them gluten free?
Here’s the tricky part…Kit Kats aren’t gluten free. So while you can totally swap gluten free all-purpose flour for the regular flour in this recipe, the candy bars themselves contain gluten.
One option would be to use a type of candy that is also gluten free, if you’re not stuck on Kit Kats.
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More of our favorite cupcake recipes:
- Easy Piñata Cupcakes
- S’Mores Cookie Cupcakes
- PEEPS Bunny Cupcakes
- Pink Champagne Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes
- Easy Mermaid Cupcakes
- Rudolph Cupcakes
- Jack Skellington Pull Apart Cupcakes
- Red White and Blue Swirl Cupcakes
Grab a free printable copy of our Kit Kat Cupcakes Recipe:
If you like this recipe, please rate it! We’d also love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Kit Kat Candy Bar Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1/3 cup Cocoa Powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 Egg large, room temperature
- 1/2 cup Buttermilk room temperature
- 1/2 cup Coffee hot
- 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
For the Frosting
- 1 cup Butter room temperature
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 Tablespoons Heavy Cream
- 12 Kit Kats half crushed, half cut into quarters
Instructions
For the Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- Add half of the Kit Kat bars to a ziploc bag and seal. Use a rolling pin to crush the candy bars inside the bag.
- Sift dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. Add egg and whisk to combine.
- Add your egg and whisk the egg into the wet ingredients.
- Using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer, slowly add dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients, mixing as you go.
- Mix for 2 minutes on medium speed and scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl as needed to make sure everything is incorporated.
- Divide batter evenly among the cupcake liners.
- Bake for 13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting.
For the Frosting
- In a stand mixer, use a paddle fixture to mix the softened butter on medium speed for about 2-3 minutes, until it is light and creamy.
- Add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and heavy cream to the butter and mix on low speed.
- Add the crushed Kit Kats and increase speed to medium-high and whip for 3-4 minutes.
- Scoop frosting into a decorating bag and pipe onto the cooled cupcakes.
- Chop remaining Kit Kats into quarters.
- Drizzle fudge on top of the cupcakes and garnish with your Kit Kat pieces.
Notes
Nutrition
Pin this Candy Bar Cupcake Recipe on Pinterest:
More of our favorite candy bar treats:
Reese’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cupcakes
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