It was one of my best friends’ birthdays this past Friday, so I baked her some cupcakes. This recipe is certainly not finalized yet, so I’ll throw in some suggestions along the way. I kind of winged it initially, and ran out of time so I didn’t make the actual cupcake part by hand. 🙂
Ingredients
- White cupcake mix, prepared as box asks (store bought…I think some kind of cinnamon cupcake mix would be better!)
- Apple Filling
- Buttercream frosting
- Homemade Caramel
Directions to make Caramel Apple Cupcakes
- Make frosting, filling and caramel first. All three can be refrigerated overnight since they are time consuming
- Bake cupcakes according to directions on box. Cool completely
- Core cupcakes out in the middle, being careful not to break through the bottom
- add a little bit of the caramel into the hole
- spoon in apple filling on top of caramel
- add a little more caramel on top of apple filling
- Pipe frosting onto cupcakes
- If you want the caramel on top like on mine, dig a little hole and fill with caramel. Be sure the caramel is thick enough to stay in the hole!
- Decorate with a cinnamon stick if you like
Apple Filling
This filling is a delicious apple pie-like filling.
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1.5 pounds (approx.) Honey Crisp apples (about 4 medium), peeled, cored, and finely diced
- 1 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
Directions
- Melt the butter in saucepan over medium heat, being careful not to burn
- Add apples, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon to saucepan
- Cook until apples are tender (about 10 min)
- Mix cornstarch & water in separate bowl
- Add cornstarch mix to apples and cook until it thickens a little more
- remove from heat
- cool
Homemade Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 packed cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup half-and-half
- 4 tablespoons butter
- Pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Directions
- Mix brown sugar, half and half, and butter in saucepan on medium heat
- Cook while whisking gently for 5 to 7 minutes, until it gets thicker. Be very careful – this will spatter!
- Stir in vanilla and cook a minute or two to thicken further
- remove from heat, and cool
- Pour the sauce into a jar.
- Refrigerate until cold.
Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 3-4 cups sifted confectionery sugar (powdered)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- up to 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream (this is optional, i don’t always do this)
- food coloring (I used green because her favorite color is green)
Directions
- Beat butter with a mixer for a few minutes until it softens a little more
- Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed so that the mixture doesn’t fly everywhere
- Add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat at a medium speed for 3 minutes. Add food coloring slowly until it is the color you desire
- If the frosting is too watery, add more sugar. If it’s too stiff, add a little more milk.
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