Robicelli's Cinnamon Bun Cupcakes

All this week, our friends Allison and Matt from Robicelli's will be sharing recipes from their cookbook Robicell's: A Love Story, with Cupcakes, hosting a Twitter chat today, answering our questions, and giving away a book every day.

Today: Thanks to the Robicell's, cupcakes are now officially acceptable for breakfast consumption.

What’s more comforting on a cold, rainy day than a warm, gooey cinnamon bun? Maybe curling up in a soft robe with a nice hot cup of tea, watching bad movies on Lifetime starring Valerie Bertinelli as some sort of woman “scorned.” Or lying on the couch while an entire litter of kittens sleeps peacefully on your chest. Or sitting in front of a fireplace doing crossword puzzles while listening to Sade’s smooth-as-satin voice.

Okay, maybe there are a lot of things more comforting than cinnamon buns, but you know what? You can’t eat kittens or Sade, so there. The key part to any worthwhile cinnamon bun, in our opinion, is the sticky “goo” that oozes out. So rather than make just a simple cinnamon cake, we dot ours with a cinnamon sugar mixture that sinks to the bottom during baking and oozes out when you unwrap it. There’s no shame in using a knife and fork to eat this one.

Cinnamon Bun Cupcakes

Cinnamon Goo

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Vanilla Cake

4 large eggs
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
Cinnamon Goo (see above)

Cinnamon Streusel

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Cinnamon Butterscotch

1/2 recipe butterscotch
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Cream Cheese Buttercream

One recipe French Buttercream or American Frosting
One 8-ounce package cream cheese
1/4 teaspoon guar gum (optional)

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Photo by Eric Isaac

Want to win a copy of Robicellis: A Love Story, With Cupcakes? Tell us in the comments: What's your dream breakfast cupcake? We'll choose one random winner each day, and announce them this Friday! (Unfortunately, we can only ship books within the US.)