These caramel apple cupcakes with cream cheese frosting are THE BUSINESS. Soft and fluffy vanilla cupcakes filled with sticky, delicious caramel apples. Topped with cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, like a cake version of apple pie. You seriously won’t be able to stop at one.
Last week, my mother in law gave me 21 kilograms of apples. 21kgs is a LOT of apples! We’re slowly working our way through them and I am having fun playing with lots of new apple recipes. These cupcakes were first on the list and I am so happy with the result. Perfect for a special occasion, party or for ‘just because’, these caramel apple cupcakes will be your new favourite treat.
They can be made ahead and stored in the fridge, but do taste best at room temperature when first made.
Ingredients
- FOR THE CUPCAKES
- 100g butter, softened (room temp)
- 185g caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 2 eggs
- 200g self raising flour
- 1/2 cup Greek yoghurt
- FOR THE APPLE FILLING
- 2 1/2 apples, cored and peeled
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 25g butter
- 3 tbs brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup apple juice
- FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- 375g cream cheese, softened at room temp
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
- FOR THE CINNAMON SUGAR
- 5 tbs sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
For the cupcakes;
Pre-heat oven to 180C° and line a 12 hole cupcake tray with patty cases.
Cream the butter, vanilla and sugar together until pale and soft. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition.
Add half of the flour and stir until combined. Fold in half of the yogurt. Repeat.
Spoon the mixture evenly into the 12 patty cases and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the cupcakes are completely cooked through. You can test this by inserting a wooden skewer into the middle of a cupcake. If it comes out clean, the cakes are cooked.
Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool.
For the apple filling;
NB- if you don’t have apple juice, grate an extra 1/2 apple and squeeze out the excess juice.
Finely cube the apples and place them into a small saucepan with the butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and apple juice. Stir over low heat until the apples soften and the caramel thickens. You can spoon a little excess caramel and set aside to drizzle over the cupcakes if you want.
Set the apples aside to cool.
For the cream cheese frosting;
Beat the cream cheese, lemon and icing sugar in a bowl until smooth and completely combined. Add a little extra icing sugar or lemon juice to make the frosting a little thicker or thinner if required.
To decorate;
Cut the top of the cupcakes to create a hole, approximately half of the cupcake deep. Spoon the apple filling into the centre of the cupcakes.
Pipe the cream cheese frosting over the top and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar (stir the sugar and cinnamon together to combine).
Drizzle with excess caramel from the apples and serve. Enjoy!
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