Honey Cupcakes Recipe
This honey cupcakes recipe is sweet and so rich in taste. A quick and easy dessert for birthdays and other special occasions. It comes with a delicious honey frosting that is hard to resist.
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This recipe of Honey Cupcakes is one of the oldest recipes from my mom’s recipe book she made back in Ukraine. It was originally created for a cake, kind of a brownie version, but it works even better as cupcakes.
When I was younger, I used to make the original recipe in the brownie version without any frosting and it was one of the best desserts on the table; sweet and so rich in taste.
The honey gives cupcakes darker color and the sour cream creates a harder dough texture than most cupcakes recipes. You’ll need a 12 – 2.5”cupcakes pan for this recipe. If you decide to go with mini cupcakes version, make sure to bake them for shorter time.
Honey Cupcakes Ingredients:
- 4 large eggs (room temp)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Honey Frosting Ingredients:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 3 tablespoons honey
How to Make Honey Cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tbsp white vinegar – it will sizzle/bubble; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, combine 4 large eggs and 1/2 cup sugar. With an electric mixer, beat on high for about 2-3 minutes.
3. Microwave 1/3 cup honey for 20-30 seconds so that it’s not thick. Add the liquid ingredients to the batter: 1 cup sour cream, baking soda mixture and 1/3 cup honey. Beat on high for about 1 min, until everything mixed in well.
4. In a separate bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and 1/4 tsp salt. Whisk and sift dry ingredients into the liquid batter. Continue beating on low until all flour mixed in, about 1 minute. The batter will be watery, not thick like most cupcakes.
5. Spoon batter into 2.5” cupcake liners, leaving about 1/4” space to the top of each cupcake liner. (About 3.5 tbsps per cupcake). Bake for 28-30 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. These will be dark in color and be round on top at first then will flatten on top a bit when cooled, that’s how they have to be.
How to Make Honey Frosting:
6. In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat 4 oz cream cheese for 30-40 seconds to break. Add 3 tbsps liquid honey; beat on medium for 30 seconds. Lastly, add 1 cup heavy whipping cream and continue beating on high for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, until you get light and fluffy frosting. I used Ironwood brand tip #98 to decorate, but you can use any tip you like. Refrigerate or enjoy now!
Try These Honey Recipes:
- Ukrainian Old-Fashioned Honey Babka
- Honey Cake with Sour Cream Frosting
- Raspberry Pecan Honey Bread
- Apple Blueberry Honey Bread
- Honey Cake Roll with Condensed Milk Frosting

Honey Cupcakes with Honey Frosting
Ingredients
Batter Ingredients:
- 4 large eggs, room temp
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Frosting Ingredients:
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 3 tablespoons honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine 1 tsp baking soda and 1 tbsp white vinegar – it will sizzle/bubble; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine 4 large eggs and 1/2 cup sugar. With an electric mixer, beat on high for about 2-3 minutes.
- Microwave 1/3 cup honey for 20-30 seconds so that it’s not thick. Add the liquid ingredients to the batter: 1 cup sour cream, baking soda mixture and 1/3 cup honey. Beat on high for about 1 min, until everything mixed in well.
- In a separate bowl, combine 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/4 tsp salt. Whisk and sift dry ingredients into the liquid batter. Continue beating on low until all flour mixed in, about 1 minute. The batter will be watery, not thick like most cupcakes.
- Spoon batter into 2.5” cupcakes liners, leaving about 1/4” space to the top of each cupcake liner. (About 3.5 tbsps per cupcake). Bake for 28-30 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. These will be dark in color and be round on top at first then will flatten on top a bit when cooled, that’s how they have to be.
Frosting:
- In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat 4 oz cream cheese for 30-40 seconds to break. Add 3 tbsps liquid honey; beat on medium for 30 seconds. Lastly, add 1 cup heavy whipping cream and continue beating on high for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, until you get light and fluffy frosting. I used Ironwood brand tip #98 to decorate, but you can use any tip you like. Refrigerate or enjoy now!
L. Leidner says:
Can this also be made into a 6″ cake for a toddler? I want to do that for 1 year old’s birthday party with the cupcakes.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
I don’t see why it wouldn’t work out. Just the baking time would be different, I cannot tell by how much without experimenting myself. You might look into our Honey Babka recipe for reference (it’s a bigger serving of these cupcakes, in a sheet cake version).
winnie says:
Made this for my sister for her birthday and she loved it – she kept going back for seconds, and thirds!
Sandi says:
I made these cupcakes for a baby shower and they were a huge hit. I loved them and so did everyone at the shower. There are a bit tough as soon as you take them out of the fridge, but sitting at room temperature for about 30 minutes they become soft again. So good. Thanks Olga!
Danielle says:
Hi Olga!
The recipe calls for 1.25 cups of flour, but then in the instructions it says to combine 1.5 cups of flour with the salt. Just checking on which one is correct.
Thanks!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Oops..it’s 1 1/4 cup. I just fixed it. Thank you for pointing that out to me. (I go through recipes few times before posting, but still tend to make mistakes 🙂 )
Catina says:
Thank u sooo much for this amazing recipe. I’ve been looking for a good honey cupcakes recipe for a long time. I made it and it was great!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Thank you Catina, I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe!
Camila S. says:
I absolutely love your blog. I have learned so much from you. These cupcakes are my favorite now!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Thanks Camila, happy to hear that 🙂
Lorraine says:
Thank you for this recipe! I have never made any cupcakes besides regular white or chocolate. These were scrumptious and I cannot get enough!
Olga in the Kitchen says:
Lol thanks Lorraine! I”m glad you liked them so much!
Joyce says:
Thank you for posting this recipe with such helpful descriptions and illustrations. My children used it yesterday for their 13th birthday and will share the cupcakes today with their friends.
Olga in the Kitchen says:
You’re very welcome Joyce! ? Let me know what they think about these. These are one of my favorites cupcakes!