Caramel Apple Cupcakes are the recipe that Teresa makes every fall the moment the Honeycrisp apples appear at the farmers market and the kitchen starts calling for cinnamon and nutmeg and the warm and deeply fragrant combination of butter and brown sugar that makes every autumn gathering feel completely and wonderfully seasonal.
She cooks the diced apples with brown sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon until they are perfectly tender and coated in the most beautiful caramel-apple glaze, bakes the most moist and warmly spiced vanilla cupcakes enriched with cinnamon and nutmeg, cores the center of each cooled cupcake, fills each one generously with the fragrant apple filling, pipes a tall swirl of the most golden and deeply cinnamon-scented buttercream, spoons more warm apple filling across the top of each frosted cupcake, and finishes with a generous drizzle of caramel sauce for the most completely festive and irresistible fall cupcake imaginable.
Caramel Apple Cupcakes are the most festive and deeply satisfying fall individual dessert made with moist cinnamon nutmeg spiced cupcakes filled with a warm brown sugar caramel apple pie filling and topped with cinnamon buttercream frosting extra apple filling and caramel sauce drizzle for the most completely extraordinary stuffed fall celebration cupcake. Come follow us on Pinterest where we share beautiful fall dessert recipes and easy apple celebration baking favorites from our kitchen every single week.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Caramel Apple Cupcakes Recipe
This Caramel Apple Cupcakes recipe is the fall dessert that combines three of the most completely beloved autumn flavors in one individually perfect and deeply satisfying cupcake. The warm cinnamon and nutmeg spiced cupcake base. The fragrant homemade caramel apple pie filling surprise center. And the golden cinnamon buttercream topped with extra apple filling and caramel drizzle. No other individual fall dessert packs this much seasonal flavor and textural interest into a single perfectly portioned serving.
The surprise apple pie filling center is the element that makes every person who bites into one of these cupcakes experience the most completely delighted and genuinely happy reaction because nobody expects the most beautifully fragrant warm apple filling to be waiting inside the frosted cupcake. It is the most completely charming and genuinely generous individual fall dessert surprise. Our Caramel Apple Dessert Cups make a beautifully equally apple-caramel and equally fall-festive companion for a complete and wonderful autumn celebration dessert spread.
Ingredients Needed for This Caramel Apple Cupcakes Recipe
For the Apple Pie Filling:
- 5 Honeycrisp Apples, cored, peeled, and diced into small pieces
- ½ cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
- 2 tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 4 tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 2 tsp Cornstarch
For the Spiced Cupcakes:
- 1½ cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1½ tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Ground Nutmeg
- ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ½ cup Whole Milk
- ¼ cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1 large Egg
- ½ cup Water
For the Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting:
- 1½ cups Unsalted Butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 tbsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- 4 cups Powdered Sugar
- 2 tsp Caramel Syrup
- Extra Caramel Sauce for drizzling
How to Make This Caramel Apple Cupcakes Recipe
Core, peel, and dice the apples into small quarter-inch pieces. In a medium bowl, combine the diced apples, light brown sugar, lemon juice, and ground cinnamon. Set aside for a few minutes while preparing the skillet.
In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the apple mixture and cook, stirring frequently, for approximately 10 minutes until the apples are tender and the liquid begins to bubble. Add the cornstarch and stir until the mixture thickens and coats every apple piece in the most beautiful glossy caramel-apple glaze. Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely while making the cupcakes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with paper liners.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, ground nutmeg, and ground cinnamon until combined. Add the whole milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, room-temperature egg, and water. Beat until well combined. The batter will be thin, cara mia.
Fill the liners approximately two thirds full and bake for 17 to 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before coring and filling.
For the cinnamon buttercream, beat the room-temperature softened butter until pale in color, approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Add the ground cinnamon and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Add the powdered sugar and mix until completely smooth. Transfer to a piping bag.
Use a cupcake corer, paring knife, or the large end of a frosting tip to make a hole in the center of each completely cooled cupcake. Fill each hole generously with the cooled apple pie filling. Pipe the cinnamon buttercream onto each filled cupcake in the most generous and beautifully tall swirl. Spoon extra apple pie filling over the frosting. Finish with a generous drizzle of caramel sauce and a pinch of extra cinnamon if desired.
How to Serve This Caramel Apple Cupcakes Recipe
These fall cupcakes are most beautiful and most completely extraordinary served at room temperature where the cinnamon buttercream is at its most soft and silky and the caramel apple topping is most fragrant and deeply golden. Arrange on a rustic wooden board or a beautiful autumn-themed tiered stand for the most completely seasonal and charming fall dessert table display.
For a fall gathering or harvest party, the combination of the warm apple aroma from the filling and the deeply cinnamon-scented buttercream fragrance that fills the room when these cupcakes are on the table is genuinely one of the most completely wonderful and seasonally perfect dessert moments imaginable. Our Sausage and Egg Casserole makes a beautifully hearty and equally warming fall companion for a complete and wonderful autumn gathering spread.
How to Store This Caramel Apple Cupcakes Recipe
Store assembled cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Allow to come to room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before serving for the most pleasant and completely soft buttercream and apple filling texture. The apple pie filling can be made up to 2 days in advance and refrigerated.
Tips to Make This Caramel Apple Cupcakes Recipe
Dice the apples into small and uniformly sized pieces for the most evenly cooked apple filling and the most elegant and neatly contained cupcake topping and center filling. Large apple pieces do not cook evenly and are difficult to use as a cupcake filling without falling off the frosting.
Always start the cinnamon buttercream with genuinely softened room-temperature butter. Begin beating the butter when the cupcakes go in the oven so that by the time the cupcakes have baked and cooled, the butter has reached the perfect softness for the most pale and fluffy buttercream base.
Helpful Notes for This Caramel Apple Cupcakes Recipe
Choose a tart and firm apple variety for the most balanced and deeply flavorful filling. Honeycrisp is the most ideal choice for its combination of tartness and natural sweetness and its excellent structural integrity during cooking. Gala and Granny Smith apples are equally excellent alternatives that produce slightly different but equally delicious flavor profiles.
Do not overfill the cupcake liners. Unlike muffins, cupcakes should produce a relatively flat top so the piped cinnamon buttercream sits most evenly and most beautifully. Fill no more than two thirds full to avoid overflow and to produce the most elegantly shaped individual cupcake.
Variation of This Caramel Apple Cupcakes Recipe
Maria made a version using a store-bought spice cake mix as the cupcake base rather than the homemade batter for the most completely convenient and still deeply delicious shortcut version that is genuinely perfect for last-minute fall gatherings. Teresa tried adding a quarter teaspoon of ground cloves and a quarter teaspoon of ground ginger to the apple filling alongside the cinnamon for the most warmly complex and deeply spiced fall apple filling.
For a cream cheese frosting version, substitute the cinnamon buttercream with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting made by beating cream cheese and butter with powdered sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon for the most tangy and deeply satisfying fall cupcake frosting that pairs beautifully with the sweet caramel apple filling. Our Sweet Potato and Chickpea Curry makes a beautifully warming and equally autumnal savory companion for a complete and wonderful fall gathering spread.
FAQs About This Caramel Apple Cupcakes Recipe
Which apple variety works best for the filling?
Honeycrisp apples are the most ideal choice for their exceptional balance of sweetness and tartness and their firm structure that holds up beautifully during the 10-minute cooking process without becoming mushy. Gala apples produce a sweeter and more mellow filling. Granny Smith apples produce the most tart and most dramatically flavored filling. A combination of two varieties produces the most complex and deeply interesting flavor.
How do I core the cupcakes without a corer?
A paring knife inserted vertically into the center of the cooled cupcake and angled in a circular motion to remove a cone-shaped plug works perfectly. The large round end of a frosting tip pressed down firmly into the center and twisted slightly also works beautifully. The hole should be approximately one inch deep and one inch wide for the most generous and visible filling.
Can I make the apple filling ahead of time?
Yes. The apple pie filling can be made up to 2 days in advance and stored covered in the refrigerator. Reheat gently in a small saucepan over low heat or briefly in the microwave until just warm before using as the filling and topping for the most fragrant and most beautiful result.
Conclusion
These Caramel Apple Cupcakes are the most completely festive and deeply satisfying fall individual dessert that makes every autumn gathering more warmly fragrant and every person who receives one feel genuinely and completely celebrated by the most beautiful and deeply autumnal combination of spiced cupcake, surprise apple pie center, cinnamon buttercream, and caramel drizzle in every single perfectly assembled and completely irresistible fall bite. We hope they bring the same deeply warm autumn joy and the same completely satisfied gathering to your kitchen that they have always brought to ours. Make them, share them, and come back to tell us all about it. With all our love, Maria, Lucia, and Teresa.
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Caramel Apple Cupcakes The Most Easy Stuffed Fall Apple Pie Cinnamon Cupcake You Will Bake
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes including cooling
- Yield: 12 cupcakes 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
The most festive Caramel Apple Cupcakes made with moist cinnamon nutmeg spiced cupcakes of flour sugar baking powder cinnamon nutmeg milk oil vanilla egg and water baked at 350°F for 17 to 20 minutes cored and filled with a warm brown sugar caramel apple pie filling of Honeycrisp apples brown sugar lemon juice cinnamon butter and cornstarch topped with cinnamon buttercream of softened butter cinnamon vanilla and powdered sugar extra apple filling and caramel sauce drizzle. A completely extraordinary stuffed fall cupcake recipe.
Ingredients
5 Honeycrisp Apples cored peeled and diced small
1/2 cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon for filling
4 tbsp Unsalted Butter for filling
2 tsp Cornstarch
1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon for cupcakes
1/2 cup Whole Milk
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1 large Egg
1/2 cup Water
1 1/2 cups Unsalted Butter softened for frosting
2 tbsp Ground Cinnamon for frosting
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract for frosting
4 cups Powdered Sugar
2 tsp Caramel Syrup
Extra Caramel Sauce for drizzling
Instructions
1. Combine diced apples, brown sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon in bowl. Set aside.
2. Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Add apple mixture. Cook stirring 10 minutes until tender and liquid bubbles.
3. Add cornstarch. Stir until thickened. Remove from heat. Cool completely.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 12-cup pan with liners.
5. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
6. Add milk, oil, vanilla, egg, and water. Beat until combined. Batter will be thin.
7. Fill liners 2/3 full.
8. Bake 17 to 20 minutes until toothpick clean.
9. Transfer to wire rack. Cool completely.
10. Beat softened butter 2 to 3 minutes until pale. Add cinnamon and vanilla. Mix.
11. Add powdered sugar and caramel syrup. Mix until smooth. Transfer to piping bag.
12. Core center of each cooled cupcake 1-inch deep.
13. Fill each hole with cooled apple filling.
14. Pipe cinnamon buttercream in generous swirl on top.
15. Spoon extra apple filling over frosting.
16. Drizzle caramel sauce generously. Sprinkle with pinch of cinnamon if desired.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Cupcakes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cupcake
- Calories: 485
- Sugar: 52g
- Sodium: 145mg
- Fat: 24g
- Saturated Fat: 14g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 67g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 3g
- Cholesterol: 72mg
Keywords: caramel apple cupcakes, stuffed caramel apple cupcakes recipe fall, cinnamon apple pie filling cupcakes with caramel drizzle, easy fall apple cupcakes
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