These Neapolitan Cupcakes with Ice Cream Frosting are easy to whip up, thanks to the use of a box mix for your base, combined with a delicious, homemade frosting!
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Sorry that I’m not sorry for the outrageous amounts of cupcakes you’ve been seeing on here this week.
Things got a little crazy.
I almost decided to hold off on sharing these Neapolitan Cupcakes with Ice Cream Frosting (yes you read that right!) with ya’ll until next week, buuuuuut I just couldn’t. Especially after the response I got on them yesterday.
When there’s something this good, it needs to be shared. So let’s share, shall we?
Neapolitan Cupcakes
Start out with a box of golden butter cake mix (such as Pillsbury). Really, you could use any yellow or golden cake mix, but I like using the butter ones because I think the flavor is better.
Prepare the cake mix according to directions on the package, then divide your batter into three separate bowls.
*In order to evenly divide the batter, each bowl should have approximately 1-1/2 cups of batter.
To make the vanilla layer, add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
For the strawberry layer, add 1/4 cup strawberry preserves + red food coloring. (start with a few drops and work your way up until you get a deep pink color)
For the chocolate layer, add 1 oz. melted semi-sweet chocolate (slightly cooled) + 1 tbsp cocoa powder.
Next, line your cupcake pan with liners and start by adding one heaping tablespoon of strawberry batter into each cup.
Then go ahead and do the same with the chocolate…
And finally, the vanilla.
Bake the cupcakes in a 350F oven for about 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
You’re going to end up with some beautifully swirled cupcakes on your hands!
Once the cupcakes are cooled completely, it’s time to get to work on your frosting.
Ohhhhh the frosting.
Neapolitan Cupcakes with Ice Cream Frosting
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup butter softened
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup vanilla ice cream
- 2-4 tbsp milk*
- 5-1/2 cups confectioners sugar
Instructions
- Allow 1/4 cup of ice cream to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.
- Beat butter and cream cheese with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and mix to combine. Gradually add powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Mix in ice cream and gradually add milk until you reach your desired consistency.
Notes
I’m in love with these cupcakes not only for how they taste, but for how they look. Starting with the delicate soft-serve looking frosting,
…all the way down to the swirled cupcake itself.
Just like a carton of Neapolitan ice cream, right? I kid you not when I say that you can actually taste each of the three flavors when you sink in to your first bite.
The fruity strawberry, combined with the rich chocolate, followed by the sweet vanilla…all on top of the vanilla ice cream-flavored frosting. It’s just heavenly.
I will say that they are a little time consuming, but they are not difficult. And when you get a finished product like this, I’d say that they’re totally worth the extra effort.
They’ll leave people talking, I promise.
Question for the Day:
If you could turn any ice cream flavor into a cupcake, what would it be?
Meg says
I’m not sorry about all these cupcakes either ;) but I AM sorry for my computer keyboard that I’m drooling all over. These look amazing and remind me of SUMMER and ice cream!
I’d go for cookie dough or mint choco chip!
Liv @ The Salty n' Sweet says
Wow the insides look gorgeous! And I love that you used ice cream in the frosting. I never would of thought of that. Does it make the frosting a little thin, though?
I’d love to have moose tracks as a cupcake! Fudge, chocolate cake, pb cups, what could be better?
Courtney says
Nope! Not at all :)
Rachel says
I beat mine for a while to but it turned out looking like a cupcake with melted icing on top. They tasted great but were messy. Anything else I can try? I would love to make these again but want them to taste good AND look good too! Would it be possible for you to take pictures of you making the icing step by step. I think that would help.
Courtney says
If the icing is thin, try adding more confectioners’ sugar a little at a time until it thickens up a bit. Or, you can try omitting the milk.
Julie @ Peanut Butter Fingers says
please never apologize for posting cupcake recipes and pictures. my blog is overly saturated with smoothies at the moment but i just can’t help myself! cupcakes are a whole ‘nother level of amazing!
Melissa says
Not only are they pretty, they also sound delicious! I love cinnamon ice cream with caramel and graham crackers. I’d love to see that in cupcake form!
Courtney says
Oh gosh…that sounds like something I may need to try! Hmmm…… ;)
Melissa says
I have a good feeling you’ll come through for me on this! :D
Gabriela @ Une Vie Saine says
Ahhh those are seriously awesome. Crumbs cupcakes does a “grasshopper” flavor that’s basically mint chocolate chip. It’s freaking delicious!!
Claire @ Live and Love to Eat says
Hmm.. Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food! Banana with dark chocolate fish and marshmallow mmm-mmm!
Shanna, like Banana says
Blue moon for sure..just thinking about it has my taste buds going!
Grace says
Oh my goodness! What a cute idea! I’ve never seen these before!
Jamie aka "Sometimes Healthy" Girl says
When I saw this come up on my Twitter feed, I had to pop on over to check out the recipe. I am beyond excited and all of my coworkers have requested I make these. I tried to tell them they might not look quite as good as yours but they didn’t care ;-)
Hmmm….ice cream flavor into a cupcake? Phish Food Cupcakes!
Jessica at Daly Authenticity says
Courtney,
I’ve pretty much been stalking your blog since I found it last week. You are gorgeous! And thanks to these cupcakes, I had to “delurk” and say hello!
Well done!
Courtney says
Awww, thanks for “delurking” Jessica! I love hearing from my lurkers ;)
Jillian says
Mint Chocolate Chip! But I guess that’s already a grasshopper cupcake…and my second choice would be cookie dough ice cream, but that’s like…a cake, cookie, and ice cream then all together! Plus, you already did that!
Caroline says
Wow! Yum! All of your cupcakes are making me crazy! They all look so amazing!
Shari @ Chicago Cuisine Critique says
These look awesome. Sad you posted these after my Foodie Friday post was already up. Guess there is always next week. Yum!
Erica says
how about a coffee cupcake? :)
those cupcakes look so cute! i think i may need to try this one day!
Jenny (Fit Girl Foodie) says
Yummy those look incredible. I would definitely turn cookies and cream ice cream into a cupcake :D
Tina @cupcakeconfess.blogspot.com says
You are quite the baker. Maybe you could possibly open up a cupcake shop one of these days!
Morgan says
I forbid you from posting pictures of ultimate perfection like the ones above ever again! These have totally sparked my sweet tooth!! I could literally make a bowl of frosting and devour it with a spoon!! :)
Heather @ Girlyeverafter says
You could only do cupcake posts and that would be fine with me, I heart them big time. I think cookie dough cupcakes would be intersting, any kind of cookie dough!
alex says
These sound amazing!!! I made tie-dye cupcakes before (much messier than yours), but never thought to put different flavors in each!
Chelsea M says
Wow those look delicious!! And from someone with no baking skills that seems like something I can definitely tackle! Thanks for the yummy post.
Parita @ myinnershakti says
You are the cupcake queen! Just like all the others, these look delicious! I love neopolitan ice cream so these have my name written all over them! :)
Mandee says
ice cream frosting?! omg! love it! i would looooooove to have a pinkberry coconut cupcake!
Khushboo says
Oh wow better than what I was expecting! I love ice cream cake so can imagine how delicious this is! If there was a choc chip cookie dough flavored cupcake, I think I would be gain 40 lbs overnight- all my favorite things in one!
colleen @ thegiftofmondays says
ice cream frosting…are you kidding?? i’m definitely trying these next weekend when have girl’s night! good thing your blog inspires me to eat well and exercise because i think i’m addicted to cupcakes and would eat them all day everyday! neopolitan is my fave ice cream since you get three flavors in one but if i had to choose another to see in cupcake form it would probably something raspberry sherbet related…not really ice cream, but i love it just the same!!!
CaSaundra says
Wow, I can’t say I have ever heard of ice cream frosting–I might have to try adding some in to my standard whipped frosting and see what happens!
Erika Corsey says
These look great so I had to try. The icing was too sweet and it was no where near as thick as yours. I think I will try adding ice cream to my icing recipe and see how it turns out.
Courtney says
Oh no! Sorry they didn’t turn out as you had hoped…hopefully you get it the way you like it! :)
Christine says
I made these last weekend for a cookout and they were the hit of the party! Thanks for sharing the recipe. :)
Also, whats your secret to getting the icing nice and fluffy?
Courtney says
Keep on beating it! I usually let mine go for at LEAST 2 minutes :)
Aleasha says
Well I guess I know what kind of Cupcakes I will be making this weekend!! Thanks for the great idea!!! So cute-I made Rainbow Cupcakes a couple weeks ago and they were pretty cute! Have a great weekend!
Brittany says
Oh dear! I’m definitely not ashamed to admit that cake, largely sized or cup sized, is my favorite food! These cupcakes look amazing! :) Thanks for the recipe!
Kimberley Curtis says
neopolitan is my fave ice cream since you get three flavors in one but if i had to choose another to see in cupcake form it would probably something raspberry sherbet related…not really ice cream, but i love it just the same!!! Wow the insides look gorgeous!
Daniella says
I have these sitting in the oven as we speak! :) For the frosting is it possible to omit the cream cheese? If yes what do you suggest as a replacement?
Thank you!
Courtney says
I’d say, if you don’t want to use cream cheese, then try making my vanilla butter cream instead (https://www.sweettoothsweetlife.com/2010/08/03/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-cupcakes/). And if you still want to add the ice cream, try adding a couple tablespoons of it in place of the milk!
Daniella says
Thank you very much! I stuck to your vanilla butter cream and they tasted great. :D
Jessica says
I’m making devils food cake inside icecream cones tonight using your ice cream icing recipe but substituting the vanilla ice cream for peanutbutter ice cream.
Terri Bruch says
Thank you sooo much. I run a cupcake shop out of my house. I normally make Neopolitan after I have done a batch of strawberry a batch of chocolate and a batch of very vanilla to use of my batter but I take three Wilton disposable icing bags and tape them at end. Tape one to other then tape those to next. Then I put each of the batters in , snip the ends and pipe all three side by side about 3/4 full. I use a recipe with strawberry bits and a chocolate with oreo bits so I have to be careful but they come out yummy. However I have been pulling my hair out finding a frosting to go along with them — Thank you sooooo much Terri’s Tastie’s cupcake shop loves ya
Cheryl says
I had the same problem with the frosting being super runny. I added additional powdered sugar then it was too sweet. I wonder if you could use the powdered ice cream mix in a frosting?