Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Caramel apple cupcakes are the perfect way to celebrate the fall! Moist cinnamon cupcakes filled with cinnamon apple filling, swirled with salted caramel buttercream frosting, and drizzled with homemade salted caramel sauce.

Ingredients for Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Cinnamon Cupcakes

• All-purpose flour – Be sure the fluff the flour and level the measuring cups to measure the flour correctly.
• Granulated sugar – For sweetness.
• Baking powder – Leavening agent to help the cupcakes rise.
• Salt – To enhance flavor and contrast sweetness.
• Cinnamon – A warm spice that adds amazing flavor to the cupcakes.
• Milk – Room temperature.
• Vegetable oil – You can also use canola oil or another neutral baking oil.
• Egg – Large egg, room temperature.
• Sour cream – Room temperature. You can also substitute with plain Greek yogurt.
• Vanilla extract – Pure vanilla extract adds amazing flavor to the cupcakes.

Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting

• Unsalted butter – Room temperature butter for easy creaming.
• Powdered sugar – Also known as confectioners’ sugar or icing sugar. No need to sift the sugar, unless it is very lumpy.
• Vanilla extract – Vanilla extract adds amazing vanilla flavor to the buttercream.
• Salt – A hefty pinch of salt provides contrast to the sweetness of the frosting and enhances the caramel flavor.
• Salted caramel sauce – Check out the recipe for my salted caramel sauce! The recipe only contains 5 ingredients and takes only 10 minutes to make! You could use a store-bought caramel sauce if you prefer, but I personally think the homemade caramel has better flavor.

Cinnamon Apple Filling

• Apples – Peeled and diced. For baking, I love using granny smith apples, honeycrisp apples, and pink lady apples.
• Granulated sugar – To add a bit of sweetness.
• Water – Water helps dissolve the sugar and create a sauce.
• Lemon juice – Lemon juice brightens the flavor of the apple filling.
• Cinnamon – Cinnamon adds a wonderful warm flavor to the apples.
• Cornstarch – Cornstarch and water create a slurry to thicken the apple filling.

You will also need additional salted caramel sauce to drizzle over the top of the cupcakes!

How to Make Cinnamon Cupcakes

The cinnamon cupcakes are made with my vanilla cupcake recipe with the addition of cinnamon. All you need to make the batter is a mixing bowl and a whisk. Super simple recipe!

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F & line cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
3. Add in milk, egg, vegetable oil, sour cream, and vanilla extract to the flour mixture.
4. Whisk the dry and wet ingredients together until combined and smooth. Do not overmix.
5. Portion the cupcake batter into cupcake liners using a large cookie scoop, 3/4 full.
6. Bake for approximately 20 minutes until the cupcakes bounce back when gently touched or an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

How to Make the Other Components of the Recipe

Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting

The frosting in this recipe is my salted caramel buttercream. The buttercream is made with homemade salted caramel sauce for amazing caramel flavor. Check out the full blog post to learn more about how to make the recipe and tips for making perfect buttercream.

Salted Caramel Sauce

To make the caramel frosting you will obviously need salted caramel sauce. My homemade caramel sauce only requires 5 ingredients and takes about 10 minutes to make! No candy thermometer is required – I promise, the recipe is easy to make. You will need the caramel sauce for the salted caramel buttercream frosting and to drizzle over the cupcakes.

If you want to skip a step, you can certainly use storebought salted caramel sauce, but the homemade version is seriously delicious. For this cupcake recipe, you will need about half of a recipe, but I recommend making the full recipe and keeping the leftovers in the refrigerator for your own personal use! Check out the full blog post to learn how to make the salted caramel sauce!

Cinnamon Apple Filling

To make the cinnamon apple filling, you will need a stove and a saucepan. Combine peeled and diced apples, granulated sugar, water, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Cook the apples over medium-low heat for approximately ten minutes until the apples soften. Then, make a cornstarch slurry from water and cornstarch and add to the apples to thicken the filling. Transfer to a heatproof bowl to cool before using.

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Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Yield: 12 cupcakes

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Caramel apple cupcakes are the perfect way to celebrate the fall! Moist cinnamon cupcakes filled with cinnamon apple filling, swirled with salted caramel buttercream frosting, and drizzled with homemade salted caramel sauce.

Equipment

• Stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or electric hand mixer

Ingredients 

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US CustomaryMetric

Cinnamon Cupcakes

• ▢ 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• ▢ 1 cup granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ▢ ½ tsp salt
• ▢ 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
• ▢ ½ cup milk room temperature
• ▢ ¼ cup vegetable oil
• ▢ 2 tbsp sour cream room temperature
• ▢ 1 egg room temperature
• ▢ 1 tbsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting

• ▢ 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
• ▢ 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
• ▢ 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ▢ ¼ tsp salt
• ▢ ¼ cup salted caramel sauce salted caramel sauce recipe

Cinnamon Apple Filling

• ▢ 2 ½ cups apples peeled and diced
• ▢ 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• ▢ 2 tbsp water
• ▢ 1 tbsp lemon juice
• ▢ 1 tsp cinnamon
• ▢ 1 tbsp cornstarch
• ▢ 1 tbsp water

Salted Caramel Drizzle

• ▢ ¼ cup salted caramel sauce salted caramel sauce recipe

Instructions

Cinnamon Cupcakes

• Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a cupcake pan with 12 cupcake liners.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
• Add in milk, vegetable oil, sour cream, egg, and vanilla extract. Whisk until well combined with the dry ingredients. Do not overmix.
• Portion the cupcake batter into the cupcake liners using a large cookie scoop, about ¾ full.
• Bake for 20 minutes until the tops of the cupcakes bounce back slightly when touched.
• Remove the cupcake pan from the oven and cool for 5 minutes. Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting

• Before making the salted caramel buttercream frosting, you will need to make salted caramel sauce. Check out the blog post and make one recipe! The caramel sauce should be at room temperature before adding to the buttercream frosting.
• In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip room temperature unsalted butter for 5 minutes on medium-high speed, scraping down the sides occasionally. The butter will become light, fluffy, and pale in color.
• Add in the powdered sugar in two batches, mixing on low speed in between each addition until well combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is well mixed.
• Add vanilla extract and salt and continue to mix on low speed.
• Drizzle in the salted caramel sauce and continue to mix on low speed.
• Turn the speed on the mixer to medium speed and whip for 3 minutes until the buttercream is light and fluffy.

Cinnamon Apple Filling

• Combine peeled and diced apples, granulated sugar, 2 tbsp water, lemon juice and cinnamon in a medium saucepan. Mix to combine.
• Place over medium-low heat and cook for approximately 10 minutes stirring occasionally until the apples are softened.
• In a separate small bowl, combine 1 tbsp water and cornstarch to create a slurry.
• Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the cornstarch slurry to the apples and immediately mix well to combine. The mixture will thicken.
• Transfer to a heatproof container to cool to room temperature before using.

Assembling the Caramel Apple Cupcakes

• Use an apple corer, paring knife, or teaspoon to core the center of the cupcakes, about ⅔ of the way down.
• Fill a piping bag with the cinnamon apple filling and pipe into the center of the cupcakes. I like to overfill the cupcakes for extra apple flavor.
• Use a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1M tip to create an ice cream swirl of salted caramel buttercream frosting. Use a piping bag or spoon to drizzle additional salted caramel sauce over the top of the cupcakes.

Notes

Caramel apple cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. To serve, bring the cupcakes to room temperature.

 

 

Metric conversions are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

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