Spiced Apple Pie Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream Frosting

By Rachel // September 7, 2013 // 409 comments //

Cupcake meets pie in this flavorful recipe for moist homemade spice cake cupcakes featuring an apple pie filling, creamy caramel buttercream frosting and caramel drizzle.

Spiced Apple Pie Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream Frosting Recipe from bakedbyrachel.com

I feel like it’s been so long since I’ve had the chance to sit back and share about my days, but now it’s been a week and I have so much catching up to do! Okay, I promise I won’t really backtrack that much. How are you liking apple a day party so far? We’re a week in with 3 more weeks to go! I’m super excited for all of the delicious creations. I joked about it last year but I really need to require taste testing of these recipes. Kidding obviously, but wouldn’t that be fun? A months worth of actual recipes in front of me, not just recipes. Such a tasty month it’d be.

The other day I whipped up one of my favorite apple recipes created last year; apple snickerdoodle cobbler. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you probably saw the picture. It’s divine! If you love apples and snickerdoodle cookies, this recipe is an absolute must make! It’s like an apple crisp but with a cookie topping. Tender cinnamon apples with crunchy snickerdoodle topping, how can you go wrong?

Spiced Apple Pie Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream Frosting Recipe from bakedbyrachel.com

Lately I find myself brainstorming so many recipe ideas that I manage to forget them before I can write them down. It’s a real pain in the you know what. The other day I remembered one while I was trying to remember another. This is exactly why I have notes on my phone, computer and in a notebook. I’m kind of crazy about notes but when I forget, well… I guess the notes are kind of useless if I don’t use them. Right? ;) Thankfully I remembered this recipe. It took two trials.

The first trial I used box spice cake mix. I figured, how could it go wrong? Easy peasy. Only not so much. Sure they were easy to whip up but they really failed in other ways. For starters, they were kind of flat as you can clearly see below. Maybe you know how obsessive I am about altering recipes and cutting down on ingredients to a T, so it’ll come as no surprise that I cut the box mix in half. But it was measured exactly. And it only made 9 cupcakes which means a full box would have only made 18 and yet the box says 24. Something isn’t adding up. And then the flavor was kind of lacking.

Homemade spice cake cupcake recipe from bakedbyrachel.com

So instead, I made cupcakes from scratch, based off of other cupcake recipes I’ve created and made. They were everything I had hoped for. Full of flavor, moist, domed and just down right perfect spiced cupcakes. I’ll never use box spice cake mix again!

Taking these cupcakes to a whole other level, I filled them with fresh homemade apple pie filling, topped them off with creamy caramel buttercream frosting and a drizzle of caramel syrup. Over the top amazing.

The recipe below is a reduced amount, but can be easily increased to make a larger batch. It made a perfect batch for my family of five. Sometimes all you really need or want is a few and it’s always easier to increase than decrease!

Spiced Apple Pie Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream Frosting Recipe from bakedbyrachel.com

Print Recipe

Spiced Apple Pie Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream Frosting

Moist homemade spice cake cupcakes with an apple pie filling, topped off with creamy caramel buttercream frosting.

Prep Time20

Cook Time30

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Cupcake

Servings: 5 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcake:

2 Tbsp light brown sugar
1/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C applesauce
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
Pinch ground cloves

Apple pie filling:

1 1/2 C apples roughly 1-2 apples
4 1/2 tsp light brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Buttercream frosting:

3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp caramel syrup
2 Tbsp heavy cream

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F degrees. Prepare a cupcake tray with 5-6 paper liners. Set aside a small baking dish (no larger than 8x8, but preferably smaller).
Peel, core and chop apples into 1/2-inch pieces. Toss with brown sugar and cinnamon to coat well. Add to baking dish, cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
In a large bowl or stand mixer, mix together sugars, applesauce and vegetable oil. Mix in egg and vanilla, followed by remaining ingredients. Mix just into all ingredients are combined. Use a large cookie scoop to divide mixture among prepared liners, 1 large scoop per liner (you may not need the 6th liner). Bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted only has a few moist crumbs. Cool on a wire rack.
Prepare buttercream in a medium bowl or stand mixer. Cream butter and powdered sugar together. Mixture may become slightly crumbly, that's okay. Add vanilla, caramel syrup and heavy cream. Beat until smooth and spreadable consistency. Add additional heavy cream if needed.
When cupcakes have cooled completely. Use a knife or cupcake corer to remove the center of the cupcake. Fill with apple pie filling, leaving a 1/2-inch space at the top. Slice off the dome of the cored piece of cupcake, place over the apple pie filling.
Pipe or frost cupcakes as desired. Drizzle with additional caramel syrup. Serve immediately or store in a covered container.

Notes

An original recipe from Baked by Rachel

An apple a day party at bakedbyrachel.com

***GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED***

Giveaway details
Courtesy of King Arthur Flour, one winner will receive one each of the following:
Pastry blender, Apple corer, 1 pint boiled cider, Apple pie spice, Red apple cookie cutter and a coupon for a free bag of King Arthur Flour to be used at your local store.

Giveaway will run from September 7, 2013 – September 13, 2013. Winner must be at least 18 years old and a US resident. Winner will be randomly selected and emailed. Winner has 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen. Main entry must be completed or extra entries will not count.

King Arthur Flour Giveaway at bakedbyrachel.com

Items used in this recipe:

Disclaimer: *I asked King Arthur Flour to be a sponsor of An Apple A Day. I received free product to use in my own kitchen. All opinions are my own. **This post contains affiliate links.