Easy Brown Butter Pecan Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

These brown butter pecan cupcakes with cream cheese frosting are super easy to make and will absolutely impress your friends! I've taken a few shortcuts here to make this super easy to accomplish when you have no time. We're using a boxed cake mix to start us off and adding some extras to amp it up. Keep reading for the how to.



Brown Butter Cake
1 box of yellow cake mix

Substitute brown butter for oil (directions below) - my recipe called for 1/3 cup of oil

1/3 cup of dulce de leche (you can also sub for caramel sauce if you prefer)

1/2 cup of toasted pecans for cake batter

Cream cheese frosting
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup of pecans for topping

Do Ahead:

1. To make brown butter: Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Use the same amount of butter that is called for the amount of oil in the recipe. Cook for an additional 5 to 6 minutes or until butter begins to turn golden brown. Remove from heat. Pour into small bowl and let cool to room temperature.
2. Toast the pecans: To toast the pecans, place nuts in dry nonstick skillet. Cook over medium heat, shaking pan until nuts are lightly browned. Remove from pan immediately to avoid over-browning and set aside.

To make the cupcakes:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F
2. Follow the directions on your cake mix box adding the appropriate amount of eggs, water and brown butter (instead of veg. oil). mix until all the ingredients are combined. 
3. Add in the dulce de leche and combine. 
4. Chop the 1/2 cup of pecan and fold into the mixture.
5. Line your cupcake tin with liners and fill each cup half way with the mixture. 
6. Follow the guidelines on the box for baking times. My mini cupcakes baked in 11 minutes. Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack for cooling. 

To make the frosting:

1. Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl with electric mixer on high speed until creamy. 
2. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth and creamy.

Putting the cakes together:

1. Frost cupcakes once they have cooled with the cream cheese frosting.
2. Add a small amount on the dulce de leche on top of the frosting.
3. Garnish each with 1 pecan half or chopped pecans on top center of cupcake. 

Happy Baking!