Super Bowl cupcakes are even better than a touchdown. If you’re hosting a Super Bowl party, you’ll want an impressive dessert for the big game. These chocolate cupcakes filled with salted caramel and chopped peanuts, dipped in chocolate and crowned with salted caramel popcorn, are sweet, salty and festive — the perfect finish whether you’re celebrating a win or soothing the tension of a close game.
Super Bowl Desserts
Ready for game day? Hosting a Super Bowl party means feeding a crowd—savory favorites like fried chicken, spicy jalapeño pimento cheese balls and cheesy pizza breadsticks are party staples. But toward the end of the game, a showstopping dessert is essential. These popcorn-topped cupcakes combine rich chocolate, creamy salted caramel, crunchy peanuts and caramel popcorn for a crowd-pleasing treat.
The idea began with a Snickers-style cupcake found years ago, and although that original post is no longer available, this version is my own take: moist chocolate cupcakes hollowed and generously filled with a salted caramel–peanut mixture, dipped in chocolate and finished with salted caramel popcorn. They’re festive, fun and full of contrasting textures and flavors.
These cupcakes are made from scratch but stay simple: a straightforward chocolate cupcake batter, a quick peanut-caramel filling, melted chocolate for coating and a crunchy salted caramel popcorn topping. The result is eye-catching and delicious—ideal for sharing at your Super Bowl gathering.
Craving more chocolate cupcakes?
Try other crowd-pleasing chocolate cupcake ideas for your next party:
Perfect S’mores Cupcakes – chocolate cupcakes with a graham cracker crust, marshmallow filling and milk chocolate ganache.
Ferrero Rocher Cupcakes – chocolate cupcakes filled with Ferrero Rocher candy and topped with Nutella frosting.
Super Bowl Cupcakes
- Author: Vera Z.
Prep Time: 30- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 90
- Yield: 10–12 1x
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
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Super Bowl cupcakes are better than a touchdown.
Ingredients
For Chocolate Cupcakes:
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
For the Filling:
- ¾ cup chopped peanuts
- 1/3 cup salted caramel sauce
For Topping:
- 5 cups popcorn
- 1 cup peanuts
- ½ cup salted caramel sauce (plus 2–3 tablespoons more if needed)
- 10 oz dark chocolate melting wafers
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners.
- In a bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Add the egg, milk, oil and vanilla. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes until combined.
- Divide the batter among the liners, filling just over halfway (less than 2/3 full) to avoid domed tops.
- Bake 20–25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let the cupcakes cool in the pan until they reach room temperature.
- Use a cupcake corer or a sharp knife to remove the center of each cupcake, reserving the cut-out tops.
- Mix the chopped peanuts with salted caramel sauce. Spoon the filling into the holes, pressing down so they are generously filled. Replace the tops and press to seal.
- Chill the filled cupcakes in the refrigerator for about an hour, or freeze for 10 minutes to firm them up.
- Melt the chocolate wafers according to package directions.
- Remove liners. Dip each cupcake into the melted chocolate, turning with two forks to fully coat. Place the dipped cupcakes on a rack or parchment-lined tray to set.
- In a large bowl, combine the popcorn, 1 cup peanuts and ½ cup salted caramel sauce, adding more caramel if needed to coat the popcorn.
- Transfer any remaining melted chocolate to a small bag, snip a corner, and drizzle chocolate over the cupcakes. Press a small cluster of caramel popcorn on top, drizzle again, then add more popcorn and a final drizzle to finish.
