Apple & Spice Cupcakes with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting & Brown Sugared Pecans
Fresh diced apples, brown sugar, buttermilk and lots of spice come together in these delightful cupcakes. Then … we frosted them with a caramel cream cheese frosting and a sprinkling of brown sugar’d pecans pieces. Sooooo good! 🧁
Servings 20Standard Cupcakes
Prep Time 30 minutesmins
18 minutesmins
Equipment
Standard (traditional) Muffin Tin
Paper cupcake liners
Electric Mixer
Ingredients
Apple & Spice Cupcakes
1cupgranulated sugar
1cupbrown sugar, packed
3large eggs
3/4cupcanola oil
3/4cupbuttermilkcan use regular or low fat
3 cupsall-purpose flour
2tsp.cinnamon
1/2tsp. nutmeg
1/2tsp. cardamom
1tsp.baking soda
1/2tsp.salt
2tsp.pure vanilla extract
3cupsdiced apples (peeled and cored)See link above for the best baking apple varietals. We use Honeycrisp usually for this recipe.
2tbsp. lemon juice
Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
4oz.butter, at room temp4 oz. = 1 stick or 1/2 cup
4+cupspowdered sugar, sifted
8 oz. full fat cream cheese at room temp
2tbsp.caramel sauce
1tsp.vanilla extract
Brown Sugared Pecans
1cup pecan pieces
1tbsp.butter
2tbsp.brown sugar
Instructions
Apple & Spice Cupcakes
Line two muffin tins (this makes 20 cupcakes) with paper or foil cupcake liners. Preheat oven to 325° F.
In a large mixing bowl, combine both sugars, oil and buttermilk and beat until well combined.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in vanilla.
Sift all dries together and add to egg mixture, gradually. Beat well after each addition.
Sprinkle chopped apples with lemon juice and fold into the cake batter.
Spoon batter into prepared muffing tins. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until center of cupcake springs back when indented with your finger or a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. When completely cool, frost with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting.
Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
Place softened butter in the bowl of your electric mixer (or a large mixing bowl if you use a hand-held beater).
Slowly add powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Reserve about 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar for adjusting the frosting consistency at the end.
Beat in softened cream cheese until smooth. Add caramel sauce and vanilla extract and beat until well-blended.
If the texture is too soft for spreading, add the remaining powdered sugar, a little at a time, until you arrive at the desired spreading consistency.
Using a decorating bag (with the coupler) and a #824 open star decorating tip, pipe the frosting on top of the completely cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle brown sugar’d pecan pieces on top. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Note* If you don’t have the decorating bag and tips, don’t worry … simply spread the frosting on each cupcake with an icing spatula or a butter knife!
Brown Sugared Pecans
Melt butter in a frying pan over medium low heat. Add pecans and toss well to coat. Add brown sugar and increase heat to medium-high. Keeping your eyes glued to the pan, cook until brown sugar is melted. Toss pecans in the melted sugar to coat. Remove from heat immediately and cool completely before sprinkling over frosting on cupcakes.
Notes
Please note the order when adding the ingredients to the frosting! The frosting will be much better for using the decorator tips, if you add the cream cheese after beating the butter and powdered sugar together first.