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A cupcake twist on a classic biscuit – the custard cream cupcake. Custard flavoured cupcakes, vanilla custard frosting, and a custard cream biscuit to boot

Cupcakes 

Cupcakes are what started my baking addiction, they are just the classic bake that all children I knew used to learn to bake before anything else. I adore cupcakes for that reason, and I have SO many cupcake recipes now across my book and my blog. 

Some of my most popular recipes for cupcakes across my blog include my biscoff cupcakes and my oreo cupcakes, so this got me thinking that I should do a cupcake version of one of my favourite recipes, the custard cream. 

Custard creams 

I LOVE biscuits out of the packet, they’re built for being dunked into a hot drink and I will happily sit there an eat an entire packet of my favourite biscuit during a film. No judging. However, when you want to bake with them, no-one will be complaining. 

Custard creams are such a popular and iconic biscuit – they are timeless and I adore them. If I could eat them every day, I would. My third book, Everyday,  featured my classic homemade custard cream recipe which you can definitely use with this recipe if you wish, just to fuel the love even more. 

I loved making these cupcakes custard cream themed, so much so I experimented with the custard cream theme a little further! I have added a custard cream cheesecake, custard cream blondies and even a custard cream sandwich cake to my website – DELICIOUS!

Custard cream cupcakes

I was asked by one of my most avid and lovely readers to create a custard cream recipe, and I decided on cupcakes as I love and adore them, and other people seem to love them too! I know that these cupcakes will be a success because they are now one of my favourites. 

The cupcakes start off with a standard cupcake recipe of butter, sugar, eggs and flour, but to change it up enough I used custard powder in my cupcakes as I wanted to have a hint of flavour there, and change the colour slightly so they don’t just look like vanilla cupcakes. 

It’s a simple mixture where I typically beat my sugar and butter together first to make sure that there are no buttery lumps in the mixture, and then I add in the flour, eggs and custard powder on this occasion. It beats to a lovely thick mixture that is perfect to split between the cases. 

I use these really cute white and gold baking cases in this recipe as I think they suit the theme of the bake so well, and I also just love them. 

Decoration

For the frosting, I used custard powder, because again I wanted it to have a lovely and delicious custard flavour, but you could also make it just vanilla if you wanted. I always use the birds custard powder because its my favourite, but what brand you can buy may depend on where you are in the world. 

It’s super important to use block butter and not a baking spread for the frosting to make sure that it stays really thick and pipes really well. I beat the butter on its own first and then add the icing sugar and the custard powder. 

As always, I used my favourite 2D closed star piping tip – I know my cupcakes often look similar but its just because I love the design so much – the swirl always looks like an ice cream and it suits a cupcake so well. 

Recipe Update

Sometimes, I like to update blog posts so that they are more in keeping with my up-t0 date knowledge of a bake, and what I prefer to do. However, I will always list the original recipe just in case you adore it:

  • The original recipe’s ingredients were: 225g unsalted butter, 225g golden caster sugar, 4 medium eggs, beaten, 200g self raising flour, 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 100g custard powder (I used Birds!), 50ml whole milk
  • Follow the same recipe method, but it makes 14-16 cupcakes, and add the bicarbonate in with the flour!

Tips & Tricks 

Custard Cream Cupcakes!

A cupcake twist on a classic biscuit - the custard cream. Custard flavoured cupcakes, vanilla custard frosting, and a custard cream biscuit to boot! Amazing custard cream cupcakes!
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Category: Cupcakes
Type: Cupcakes
Keyword: Biscuits, Custard Cream
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Cooling & Decorating: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 40 minutes
Servings: 12 cupcakes
Author: Jane's Patisserie

Ingredients

Cupcakes

  • 175 g unsalted butter/baking spread
  • 175 g white/golden caster sugar
  • 3 medium eggs
  • 135 g self raising flour
  • 65 g custard powder (I used birds)
  • 50 ml whole milk (optional)

Buttercream

  • 150 g unsalted butter (room temp)
  • 300 g icing sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 25 g custard powder

Decoration

  • 12 custard creams
  • Custard cream crumbs
  • Sprinkles

Instructions

Cupcakes

  • Preheat the oven to 180ºc/160ºc fan and prep 12 cupcakes cases.
  • Beat together the unsalted butter and golden caster sugar until light and fluffy.
  • Add in the eggs, self raising flour, custard powder and beat again.
  • If the mixture is thick, add the milk and beat again.
  • Split the mixture between the 12 cases and bake in the oven for 17-20 minuets, or until baked through.
  • Leave the cupcakes to cool fully on a wire rack.

Butttercream

  • Beat the unsalted butter on its own for a few minutes to loosen it.
  • Add the icing sugar, custard powder and vanilla and beat again for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.
  • If the mixture is really thick, add 1/2 tbsp of boiling water at a time until smooth.

Decoration

  • Decorate the cupcakes with your favourite piping tip, and add on a custard cream.
  • Sprinkle on any biscuit crumbs or sprinkles if you fancy. Enjoy!

Notes

ENJOY!

Find my other recipes on my Recipes Page!

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© Jane’s Patisserie. All images & content are copyright protected. Do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words and credit me, or link back to this post for the recipe.

72 Comments

  1. S on May 7, 2025 at 1:00 am

    Not a fan of Buttercream frosting, is there a different option of frosting that would be better?

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