Boston Cream Cupcakes (cake mix)

These moist and light Boston Cream Cupcakes are a new favorite! Flavorful yellow cupcakes are filled with an easy vanilla cream, and topped with a decadent chocolate glaze.

Why we Love Them

There are so many reasons to love these cupcakes. Here are a few!

• Impressive, yet so simple to make!
• We especially love the easy cream filling and chocolate glaze!
• Perfect birthday cake recipe, potluck recipe, holiday recipe, and more!
• All the flavor of Boston Cream Pie in a cupcake (Check out our scratch Boston Cream Pie and Easy Boston Cream Pie cake recipes as well!)

How to Make Boston Cream Cupcakes

Here's quick rundown of our process for these cupcakes. You can find the full, printable recipe at the bottom of this post!

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Add paper liners to your cupcake pan.
• In the bowl of your mixer, add the yellow cake mix, all purpose flour, sugar, and vanilla pudding mix. Whisk to blend. Then, add remaining ingredients.
• Mix on low speed for about 15-30 seconds to moisten. Increase to medium speed for two minutes (stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.)
• Scoop the batter into the lined cupcake pan. We filled each cupcake liner about ⅔ full- approximately ¼ cup each. Makes about 24-26 cupcakes.

• Bake at 350 for approximately 18 minutes or until the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched, or an inserted toothpick can be inserted and removed with just a few moist crumbs attached.
• Remove the cupcakes from the pans soon after removing from the oven to prevent over-baking. (We usually wait 5 minutes or less). Cool completely before adding filling.

Vanilla Cream Filling

We used a very easy Vanilla Cream Filling (also known as a mock mousse) which is a combination of instant vanilla pudding and heavy whipping cream.

After sifting the pudding mix, we combined it with the cream using an electric mixer (we used a handheld mixer) until thick and fluffy. You can add a bit more cream if needed for desired consistency.

Then, scoop into a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away when ready to assemble the cupcakes. (This filling needs refrigeration.)

For the Chocolate Glaze

There are only two ingredients in this simple glaze for our Boston Cream Cupcakes- chocolate and heavy cream. (We used Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet mini chocolate chips.)

• Combine the chocolate and cream in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in small increments in the microwave. We started with 40 seconds, gave it a stir, and heated once or twice more in 10 second increments after that. *** Stop heating once the chocolate has *almost* completely melted. Stir until smooth.
• Allow to cool for about 15-20 minutes or until it is slightly thickened (but fluid enough for dipping.)

Cupcake Assembly

Once the cupcakes have cooled and the filling and glaze are ready, it is time to put it all together!

Insert the piping bag of filling halfway into a cooled cupcake and give it a squeeze for 3-4 seconds before removing. (See additional details in recipe card.)

Next, turn the cupcake upside down and dip the top into the bowl of chocolate glaze.

Repeat for all of the cupcakes. You may find it faster to fill all of the cupcakes first. Then add the chocolate glaze.

We love how pretty these look on a cake platter! Here's a peek inside also.

Recipe FAQs

More Cupcakes to Try

If you love cupcake recipes, we have many more for you to try! A few of our favorites are our Banana Pudding Cupcakes, Italian Cream Cupcakes, Strawberry Cupcakes from scratch, and Vanilla Cupcakes.

Thanks so much for stopping by! We hope that you enjoy today's recipe. Make sure to check out our full collection of cake recipes, which includes both cake recipes from scratch as well as cake mix recipes!

Boston Cream Cupcakes

BY Melissa and Bebe

These ultra moist and light Boston Cream Cupcakes with vanilla cream filling and chocolate glaze taste so good and are simple to make! They are sure to make any occasion feel more special.

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 10 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Servings: 24

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Ingredients

• ▢ 1 box Yellow Cake Mix (15.25 oz)(We used Duncan Hines Moist Yellow Cake)
• ▢ ½ cup All Purpose Flour (60g)
• ▢ ½ cup white sugar (100g)
• ▢ 1 small box Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix (3.9 oz)(We use Jello Brand-Do not make pudding, just add the dry powder)
• ▢ 1 cup Sour Cream (242g)
• ▢ ½ cup Vegetable Oil (we use canola) (108g)
• ▢ 1 ¼ cup water (302g)
• ▢ 3 large eggs
• ▢ 3 teaspoons vanilla extract (12g)

Vanilla Cream Filling

• ▢ 1 small box instant Vanilla pudding 3.9 oz/96g We used Jello- Brand
• ▢ 2 cups heavy cream or whipping cream (You will likely need a tablespoon or two more as it becomes very thick.) (464g)

For the Chocolate Glaze

• ▢ 5 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate (We used Ghirardelli chocolate chips)
• ▢ 5 oz heavy cream

Instructions

For the Yellow Cupcakes

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Place paper cupcake liners into the wells of your cupcake pan. (This recipe makes a total of 24-26 cupcakes)
• In the bowl of your mixer, add the cake mix, all purpose flour, sugar, and pudding mix. Whisk to blend.
• Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl. Mix on low speed for about 30 seconds.
• Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed and mix on medium speed for two minutes.
• The batter should look well blended.
• Scoop the batter into the lined cupcake pan. We filled each cupcake liner about ⅔ full- approximately ¼ cup each. Makes about 24-26 cupcakes.
• Bake at 350 for approximately 18 minutes or until the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched, or an inserted toothpick can be inserted and removed with just a few moist crumbs attached.
• Remove the cupcakes from the pans soon after removing from the oven to prevent over-baking. (We usually wait 5 minutes or less).

For the Vanilla Cream Filling

• Combine the pudding mix and heavy cream in a mixing bowl. I prefer to mix with a hand held mixer, but a whisk is just fine too. If using a mixer, start on low speed until well combined. Then, switch to high speed and whip the pudding until thick and fluffy. If mousse is too thick, mix in small amounts of heavy cream a tablespoon at a time to reach desired consistency.
• If mixing by hand, simply whisk rapidly for a couple of minutes or until mixture is nice and thick.
• Refrigerate until ready to use. Cakes with this filling should be chilled until close to serving time.

For the Chocolate Glaze

• Combine the chocolate and cream in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in small increments in the microwave. We started with 40 seconds, gave it a stir, and heated once or twice more in 10 second increments after that. *** Stop heating once the chocolate has *almost* completely melted. Stir until smooth.
• Allow to cool for about 15-20 minutes or until it is slightly thickened (but fluid enough for dipping.) You can pour in a larger bowl (or even briefly refrigerate) to speed up the process. It it becomes too thick, microwave in small increments.
• Be careful not to overheat. Ours was heated in a standard sized cereal bowl. If you are heating in a larger bowl, it will heat more quickly.

Assembling the Cupcakes

• Once the cupcakes have cooled, the filling is made, and the glaze is a good consistency for dipping, it is time to put everything together.
• Scoop the vanilla cream filling into a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away (or a ziplock bag with a corner snipped away.)
• Insert halfway down into the cupcake and squeeze the bag for 3-4 seconds before removing. *For a visual, squeeze the piping bag onto a plate or sheet of waxed paper and count the number of seconds it takes to get to your preferred amount. Even better- if you have an extra cupcake, fill it (counting the seconds) and then split in half to see if you are happy with that amount. Adjust as needed.
• Fill all of the cupcakes. Then, take a filled cupcake, turn upside down, and dip the top into the chocolate glaze. Sit it right-side-up onto a cake board or cake platter. Repeat for all of the cupcakes.
• Because of the filling and glaze, these cupcakes should be refrigerated. However, for best texture, we like to remove from the refrigerator 1-2 hours before serving. This allows time for the cupcakes to warm and soften.

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