Filipino Cheese Cupcakes with Cheese Crumble
Moist, cheesy, and buttery Cheese Cupcakes. The best I’ve ever had. What’s that on top? Cheese Crumble topping! And that’s why it is even more amazing!
Filipino Cheese Cupcakes
My favorite childhood school snack right here! Feeling nostalgic as I write this while munching on a piece. In fact, it’s what I’ve been snacking on for the past few days. Just one cupcake a day. I’m afraid I’ll run before I can make another batch again.
Cheese Cupcakes are every Filipino kid’s favorite school snack (baon in Filipino). And there are three words (ingredients) that best describe it.
- Cheese
- Butter
- Condensed Milk
It’s not your typical cheese cupcakes. It is, in all essence, a Filipino style cake. We love our cheese dishes and snacks to be on the sweet side rather than savory. And that is why using condensed milk as its sweetener was just ingenious!
TIPS! Moist and delicious Filipino Cheese Cupcakes
- Use pure unsalted butter. There is no better substitute for it, even oil. Pure butter is sweet, buttery and creamy.
- Milk plus vinegar. This is a simple homemade buttermilk mixture that can make any cake wonderfully moist.
- Don’t substitute condensed milk with sugar. Full stop. In fact, this recipe doesn’t include sugar in the cupcake batter. The sweetness of the condensed milk is all we need.
- Mix the batter until “just combined”. Don’t over mix. Stop mixing as soon as you no longer see any white powder. Mixing the wet and dry ingredients separately is a good trick to avoid overmixing.
Recommended types of cheese
You won’t need any fancy cheeses to make these cheese cupcakes. As simple as processed cheddar cheese will work wonderfully for this recipe. Of course, you can also use natural cheese if available.
- Cheddar cheese
- Edam cheese
- Gouda cheese
- Monterey Jack or Colby
- Swiss Cheese
- quick melt-processed cheese
What won’t work for this recipe is Mozarella as it doesn’t blend well with cake batters. It also becomes gooey and sticky once cooled. Yes, I have, unfortunately, tried it personally.
Cheese Crumble Topping
It is NOT optional, to me at least. It brought the cheese cupcakes to a whole new level of deliciousness and I love it! TRUST me on this.
Tip 1: Finish making the cupcakes down to filling up the muffin tins with the batter before making the crumble topping. The fresher the crumble the easier it is to handle i.e. sprinkle over the cupcakes.
Tip 2: Use cold butter and cut it in cubes. Mix it with flour and sugar first before adding in the grated cheese.
Love baking? Try these recipes!
- Easy Chocolate Cake – moist and not too sweet!
- Filipino Pan de Coco
- Super Soft Ensaymada Bread Rolls
- Brown Pandesal
- Filipino Cheese Cupcakes with Cheese Crumble
- Banana Chocolate Marble Bread
- Ensaymada Cupcakes
- Moist Banana Muffins with Oatmeal Crunch
- Soft Spanish Bread
- Tres Leches (not too sweet)
Watch the video on how to make The Best Filipino Cheese Cupcakes
Filipino Cheese Cupcakes with Cheese Crumble
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs (slightly beaten)
- 1/2 cup butter (melted and COOLED)
- 1 can/392g condensed milk
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup grated cheese (I used Kraft cheddar cheese)
Cheese Crumble Topping
- 50 grams butter (cold, cut into pieces)
- 3/4 cup grated cheese (I used Kraft cheddar cheese)
- 1/3 cup white sugar (superfine or Caster)
- 1/2 cup flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350f or 180c. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners
- In a small bowl or cup, combine milk and vinegar. Stir and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine.
- In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Add melted butter, vanilla extract, and condensed milk. Whisk to combine.
- Add the wet ingredients and grated cheese to the dry ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until just combined; batter should be lumpy. DO NOT OVER MIX.
- Fill each cupcake liner with the batter. They should just be over 3/4 full. Use a big spoon or an ice cream scoop. Tap twice to remove the air bubbles.
Cheese Crumble Topping
- In a bowl, combine flour and sugar.
- Add the pieces of butter. Use a fork to cut the butter into the mixture until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Toss the grated cheese until well distributed.
- Sprinkle over on top of the cupcakes, about 1 tablespoon each.
Bake the cupcakes
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve and enjoy!
Recipe Notes and Tips:
- Use pure unsalted butter. There is no better substitute for it, even oil. Pure butter is sweet, buttery and creamy.
- Make sure that the melted butter has cooled down before adding in the mixture. Otherwise it will cook the eggs!
- Milk plus vinegar. This is a simple homemade buttermilk mixture that can make any cake wonderfully moist.
- Don’t substitute condensed milk with sugar in the cake batter. The sweetness of the condensed milk is all we need.
- Mix the batter until “just combined”. Don’t over mix. Stop mixing as soon as you no longer see any white powder. Mixing the wet and dry ingredients separately is a good trick to avoid overmixing.
- Finish making the cupcakes down to filling up the muffin tins with the batter before making the crumble topping. The fresher the crumble the easier it is to handle i.e. sprinkle over the cupcakes.
- Other types of cheese that you can use: cheddar cheese (processed or natural), Edam cheese, gouda, monterey jack or colby, swiss cheese, toast melt or quick melt.
- Don't use Mozarella Cheese as it doesn't blend well with the cake batter.
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I made this last night very moist and yummy.Medyo may mali sa pagmix ko sa butter for my crumble hehehe.Thanks po for sharing your recipe.😘
You’re welcome Mary Ann! Glad you enjoyed the recipe. Don’t worry about the crumble. As long as it’s delicious, you’re good 🙂
This version of cheese cupcake is the best! super level up ng taste because of the crunchy cheese crumble, and so appealing to eat as well. It’s like there’s a surprise in every bite. thank you for sharing your recipe.
Just made it today love the taste the problem is my crumble it melted maybe because i did not cut into pieces the butter i added the whole 50g of butter into the flour and sugar then use fork to mix them before adding the cheese 😔 for the milk i always use evap milk whenever i make buttermilk and it works
This happens to me all the time! You just loose the crunchy texture of the topping but it’s still the best flavor wise 😉. I’ve never tried using evap to make buttermilk. Thanks for the tip!
Hi! Just wanna double how many tbsp of butter to be used in the crumble? I’ve seen the video and looks likes more than 3tbsps 🙂
Hi Tin, you can use up to 1/4 cup of butter or 50g.
Hi! I’d like to ask if it’s okay to use salted butter and omit the salt in the recipe and for milk can I use the evaporated kind? Thanks!
Hi Roj, yes omit salt if using salted butter. For the evaporated milk, I haven’t tried that in this recipe. If you happen to give it a try, I’d love to know how they turned out.
Hi! Me again ??
Will it work if we use the same cheese for the crumble and the condensed milk in can is of what size? Thanks
I used the same cheese for the cake and crumble. The recipe does appear confusing, sorry about that. I’ll update it. Thank you ha.. and for the condensed milk 392g it says in the can of Milkmaid. I think that’s the regular size can.