Yellow Cupcakes with Buttercream and Cornflakes

These cupcakes are seriously sweet and have a nice crunch thanks to the cornflakes on top.

I’ve made Milk Bar’s compost cookies a number of times, and as delicious as the cookies are, what really stands out is the cornflake crunch. This stuff is everything: sweet, a bit salty, crunchy. So what better vehicle for the cornflake crunch than a cupcake?? It gives a really lovely crunch, and a saltiness that otherwise is missing. You’ll want to eat them within a day or two once you add the cornflake, just because it gets stale quickly. (You can always hold off adding the cornflake until you’re ready to serve, though.)

Adjustments: follow a different one of Christina Tosi’s cereal crunch recipes and top with that (fruity pebbles, rice krispies, etc.); add ¼ cup cocoa powder to the buttercream to make it a chocolate buttercream

Cupcakes from Bon Appetit
Buttercream from Magnolia Bakery
Cornflake crunch from Momofuku Milk Bar

Ingredients

Cupcakes

3 1/3 cups/400 grams cake flour
2 cups/400 grams sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks/226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup/236 milliliters buttermilk, room temperature
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
7 large egg yolks
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup (1 sticks/113 grams) unsalted butter, softened
4 cups/454 grams confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup/59 milliliters milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 

Cornflake Crunch

5 cups cornflakes (170g or 1/2 of a 12oz box)
1/2 cup (40 grams) milk powder
3 tablespoons (40 grams) sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
9 tablespoons (130 grams) butter, melted

Preparation

Make the cupcakes: Arrange racks in lower and upper thirds of oven; preheat to 400°. Line two standard 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add butter, buttermilk, and oil and beat on medium speed, scraping down sides of bowl, until smooth.

Whisk egg yolks, egg, and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth. Add egg mixture to flour mixture in 2 additions, beating well between additions. Continue to beat on medium speed until mixture is homogenous and very thick, about 2 minutes.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling two-thirds full (a level ⅓ cup batter per cupcake). Bake 5 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 350°. Continue baking, rotating pans halfway through, until cupcakes have domed and spring back when touched in the center, 20–25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Make the cornflake crunch: Heat oven to 275. Pour cornflakes in medium bowl and crush them with your hands to 1/4 of their original size. Add the milk powder, sugar, and salt and toss to mix. Add the butter and toss to coat. As you toss the butter will act as glue binding the dry ingredients to the cereal, creating small clusters.

Spread the clusters on parchment and bake for 20 minutes, at which point they should look toasted, smell buttery, and crunch gently when cooled slightly and chewed.

Make the buttercream: Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, until the icing is thick enough to spread.

Assemble cupcakes: Frost the cupcakes using a butter knife or small offset spatula. Pour cornflake crunch in wide, flat-bottomed bowl and dip cupcake tops in crunch, pressing gently to adhere.