How to Make Empanada Cupcakes

These empanada cupcakes are inspired by the Cherpumple! Have you heard of it? It’s a crazy three-layer cake that has a pie baked into each layer and is slathered in cream cheese frosting. After watching Corinne’s video on Threadbanger, I wanted to make a smaller, more manageable version for a family party. So I baked pumpkin empanadas inside chocolate fudge cupcakes! These cupcakes took less than an hour to make from start to finish.

First of all, I’m a cheat. I don’t bake cakes from scratch. I used boxed cake mix and empanadas from the local Mexican bakery. But if you want to go all out – you can make everything from scratch!

I cut the empanadas into pizza slice-shaped pieces, then used tall parchment paper baking cups inside a jumbo muffin pan. I mixed the cake batter, then filled each compartment 1/2 full, then inserted the empanada chunk.

I baked them at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes – or according to the package directions.

Next, for the frosting, I didn’t want to cover up the novelty of the empanada sticking out – that is the wow factor. So I went for a cream cheese drizzle! Make sure to let the cupcakes cool before you do this. I found cream cheese cookie icing that worked perfectly.

And here is how they looked when I finished the drizzling! OMG.

I took them to my sister-in-law’s and they were a big hit! They were very moist and the pumpkin spices added a nice twang to the chocolate.

There are lots of other combos you can use – like pineapple or lemon empanadas with vanilla cake or apple with spice cake. So many choices!

If these are too big, you can always use a regular cupcake pan and make smaller versions.

Thanks for checking out my project, let me know if you try it!