Recipes and Cooking Desserts & Baking Cupcakes 14 Showy Filled Cupcakes for Desserts That Really Wow By Sheena Chihak, RD Sheena Chihak, RD Instagram Sheena Chihak is a registered dietitian, former food editor and current edit lead for BHG with over 15 years of writing and editing experience for both print and digital. Learn about BHG's Editorial Process Updated on August 20, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Jason Donnelly Cupcakes are great, but when you need something a bit more special, make filled cupcakes. With our filled cupcake recipes, sometimes the filling is a surprise and sometimes it's apparent with a glance. Choose the cream cheese-, jelly-, candy-, or cream-filled cupcakes that best suits your occasion. 01 of 14 Boston Cream Pies View Recipe Scott Little It's easy to re-create this bakery-favorite full-size pie as an individually-portioned filled cupcake recipe. Slather a split vanilla cupcake with luscious vanilla cream and drench it with rich chocolate ganache. As a bonus to those of you who are planners, you can make the vanilla cream a day ahead. 02 of 14 Mocha-Filled Banana Cupcakes View Recipe Scott Little With bananas, cream cheese, and coffee in the ingredient list, these filled cupcakes sound equally wonderful for breakfast as dessert. With 2 to 3 bananas in the cake mixture and another banana used in the frosting, this is certainly the go-to filled cupcake recipe for banana lovers. Irresistible Banana Bread Recipes from Classic to Redefined 03 of 14 Cream-Filled Fudgy Cupcakes View Recipe Jason Donnelly These chocolate cupcakes are hiding two secrets—a cream cheese filling and a shortcut ingredient: boxed cake mix. You can keep using shortcuts by utilizing purchased canned vanilla and chocolate frosting or make your own frosting recipes. When you pipe the two frosting colors using different pastry bag tips, you add instant beauty to the dessert. 04 of 14 Pineapple-Carrot Cupcakes View Recipe Scott Little This moist cupcake is hiding a filling of crushed pineapple in a sweetened cream cheese mixture, but it also has shredded carrots and a luscious cream cheese frosting. After baking in a muffin tin, cooling, and frosting, roll the edge of the frosted cupcake in chopped walnuts for crunch. 05 of 14 Lemon Meringue Pie Cupcakes View Recipe Scott Little Meringue topping makes these lemon curd-filled cupcakes taste just like classic lemon meringue pie. For an extra-special touch, use a pastry bag and large star tip to pipe the meringue in pretty designs. 06 of 14 Peanut Butter Cupcakes View Recipe Andy Lyons A miniature peanut butter cup is tucked inside each of these yummy treats. The candy makes the cupcakes sink slightly during baking—the perfect spot for a pretty dollop of jam once they're cooled. With the jam on top and peanut butter in the filling, these cupcakes are a fun dessert spin on a PB&J recipe. Buy It: PaperChef Baking Cups ($2, Target) Buy Now 07 of 14 Crème-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes View Recipe Andy Lyons Just like those purchased cupcakes of your youth, this copycat recipe is a chocolate cupcake at its base but filled with a buttery-marshmallow crème filling, topped with a decadent ganache and a bit of white icing for that telephone-cord swirl you remember. Whip up a batch to feel like a kid again today. 08 of 14 Cannoli Cupcakes View Recipe Scott Little These filled cupcakes keep the flavor you love in the Sicilian pastry, cannoli, thanks to a sweet ricotta frosting and pistachios but eliminate the intense work of making cannoli shells. Garnish with additional pistachio nuts and grated chocolate for a pretty finish. Italian Desserts 09 of 14 Pumpkin Cupcakes with Spiced Mascarpone Cream Filling View Recipe Jason Donnelly Come the fall months, we will eat any pumpkin dessert in front of us. Heck, a pumpkin dessert any time of year is sure to be devoured. This filled cupcake recipe isn't shy about hiding what's inside; it's layered proudly to display the spiced mascarpone cream filling, which also serves as the frosting. A light sprinkling of crystallized ginger adds the final sparkly, sophisticated garnish. Buy It: Good & Gather Crystallized Ginger ($6, Target) Buy Now 10 of 14 Lemon Dreams View Recipe Blaine Moats Sweet-tart lemon curd fills the center of these dreamy citrus-flavor cupcakes. Garnish the lemon cream frosting with lemon zest or a slice of lemon to hint at the flavor profile inside these lemon-filled cupcakes. 11 of 14 Pot o' Gold Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes View Recipe Carson Downing These adorable filled cupcakes are intended as a St Patrick's Day dessert, but you can use the recipe as a template for other filling ideas for other holidays and occasions. Instead of green and shamrock sprinkles, use sprinkles or tiny candies in the color scheme of your party. 12 of 14 Dark Chocolate-Raspberry Cakes View Recipe Blaine Moats Turn these amazing raspberry-filled chocolate cupcakes upside down before drenching them in rich chocolate truffle icing. The filling is just fresh berries, so there's no extra step of making a filling. 13 of 14 Cherry-Almond Vanilla Cupcakes View Recipe Blaine Moats These pretty-in-pink cupcakes get their subtle hue from cherry juice in the batter and the frosting. A cherry is also the only filling called for, making this the perfect filled cupcake recipe for those who don't love loads of sugary frosting and fillings in their desserts. 14 of 14 Banana Split Cupcakes View Recipe Blaine Moats In this fun remake of a soda shop favorite, banana cupcakes are filled with whipped cream and topped with a scoop of ice cream. To make it even more like the sundae treat, don't forget the chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and chopped nuts. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit