Apple Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting
Apple Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting
I love my birthday because it’s right at the beginning of fall when everyone is getting excited about all the things I love: apples, candy, pumpkins, and scary movies. But it’s still technically in summer so it’s usually warm. So this year I decided to was so excited to bake apple cupcakes for my party as my first fall recipe! These cupcakes are so good! The cupcakes have a perfect amount of apple and spice, they are moist and flavourful. The frosting is rich with a strong salted caramel flavour. They take some more time than a typical cupcake, but I would say it’s worth it!
Cut the apple into small chunks as pictured above. Fold in once your batter is ready (below).
INGREDIENTS
Cupcakes
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. pumpkin spice
1 large apple (Granny Smith recommended)
Salted Caramel Frosting
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
7 tbsp. heavy cream, divided
1/4-1/2 tsp. salt*
3 cups icing sugar
1 tbsp. milk
Caramel sauce** and sliced apples for garnish
YIELD
17 cupcakes
TIME
Prep - 40 minutes
Bake - 20 minutes
Cool and Frost - 2 hours
TOOLS
3 bowls
Stand or hand mixer
Regular muffin pans
Cooling rack
Small saucepan
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two muffin pans with 17 liners. Set aside.
Peel and finely chop the apple. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, then the milk and vanilla. Mix well and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and pumpkin spice. Add the dry ingredients into the wet. Mix until just combined. Fold in the apples.
Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full with batter. The batter will be thick and lumpy (because of the apples) so do your best to fill them all evenly.
Bake for 20 minutes. The tops will be brown. Use a toothpick in the centre to check they are done. Allow to cool in the pan and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
While the cupcakes cool, make the frosting. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once completely melted, add brown sugar and 2 tbsp. of heavy cream. Whisk constantly over medium heat until sugar has dissolved. Add salt. Allow to bubble for 2 minutes and then remove from heat and let cool for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the top from hardening.
Once the caramel has cooled and is safe to use, pour into a large bowl. Add in 2 cups of icing sugar and 4 tbsp. of heavy cream. Beat with a stand or hand mixer. Slowly add in 1 more cup of icing sugar. Add in more heavy cream or more icing sugar to reach the desired consistency: thick but can be piped. I recommend putting the frosting in the fridge for about 10 minutes before using (no longer or it will harden).
Frost the cooled cupcakes. Garnish with caramel sauce (see below) and sliced apples. If using sliced apples, place them in a bowl of lemon juice before using to prevent them from browning.
Recipe adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction.
ADAPTATIONS
*For the salted caramel frosting you can add more salt (1/2 tsp. instead of 1/4 tsp.) depending on your preference level for the saltiness of the caramel.
**For the caramel sauce, you can save a bit of the caramel you make in the frosting, use store bought caramel sauce OR you can do what I did: melt 1/2 cup vanilla caramels with a splash of heavy cream and sprinkle of salt in a microwave safe bowl for 1 minutes in the microwave. Mix well and melt for intervals of 30 seconds until you have a sauce you can drizzle. Allow to cool before using.
