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These Caramel Apple Cupcakes are made with a spiced apple cupcake and topped with caramel buttercream. They melt in your mouth and are such a delicious apple dessert idea!
This recipe uses my Easy Salted Caramel Sauce as an ingredient. It’s the best caramel ever!
So today’s recipe is actually an update of a recipe from back in 2015. The older version was based on my very first vanilla cupcake recipe I shared on this site. It was a much denser cupcake. Today’s update is based on my new Easy Homemade Vanilla Cupcakes, which are light and fluffy and have been a favorite for a while now. Given that I love the new vanilla cupcakes so much, it seemed appropriate to update this wonderful fall dessert with my BEST version!
Despite the update, the flavors and such are quite similar. It’s the execution that’s a bit different. These cupcakes are still full of cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, apples and caramel. But they now use the more traditional creaming method and ultimately come out quite differently in texture.
Cupcake Ingredients
While you don’t really need to hear all about every ingredient, I thought I’d highlight the more significant ones:
- Cinnamon and Nutmeg: For the perfect fall apple flavors.
- Butter and Oil: I like to use a combination of the two so that you have both the great flavor of butter and the added moisture of the oil.
- Brown Sugar: This recipe uses regular granulated sugar and brown sugar. The brown sugar adds extra flavor and warmth to these cupcakes.
- Sour Cream and Milk: The combination of sour cream and milk, as opposed to just milk, helps to thicken up the cupcake batter to keep the apples from sinking to the bottom while baking.
- Apples: You’ll want to peel your apples and then dice them so that you don’t have huge chunks in your cupcakes. I used Granny Smith apples, but other varieties such as Honeycrisp would work well too.
Caramel Buttercream Ingredients
Naturally, this buttercream has plenty of butter in it. Additionally, you’ll find:
- Powdered Sugar: I’m often asked about reducing powdered sugar amounts and it’s hard to answer that sometimes. For me, a thicker buttercream is preferred so I’d say don’t. But if you are ok with a thinner buttercream that doesn’t hold up as well to some piping, you can certainly reduce it. It’s kind of a preference thing, in addition to a consistency thing.
- Caramel Sauce: I mentioned before that I used a homemade caramel sauce and that’s definitely what I recommend here. Often store bought sauces are much thinner and will thin out your frosting more quickly without adding as much flavor. My homemade sauce is thick enough and has lots of flavor so that you’ll end up with a flavorful buttercream that still has a nice consistency to it.
- Cinnamon: Optional, but I do love my cinnamon.
How to make Caramel Apple Cupcakes
As mentioned before, these cupcakes use the creaming method. So to get started, you’ll combine your butter, oil and sugars and cream them together for about three minutes. Don’t skimp on that time! It adds air to the batter that helps the cupcakes rise. You’ll actually be able to see a noticeable difference in the color and texture of the mixture when it’s ready.
Next, you’ll add the vanilla and sour cream, then the eggs one at a time.
After that, you’ll alternate adding your dry ingredients and milk.
Finally, you’ll fold in your chopped apples. Pretty straightforward, right?!
When your cupcakes are baked and cooled, you’ll make your caramel buttercream. Beat your butter until smooth, then add about half of the powdered sugar.
Add some of the caramel sauce next, then add the remainder of the powdered sugar.
Now that you know just how thick your powdered sugar is, you can add more caramel sauce until you have both the consistency and flavor you want. If you’re adding the cinnamon, you can do that too.
Finally, pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes and decorate them with a caramel drizzle and apple slice.
For an even more detailed look at how to make these cupcakes, check out the video below where I walk you through the whole process.
Watch How To Make Them
You might also like these apple dessert recipes:
Caramel Apple Cheesecake Blondie Trifle
Easy Caramel Apple Cheesecake
Caramel Apple Pecan Layer Cake
Caramel Apple Trifles
Caramel Apple Blondie Cheesecake
Caramel Apple Cookie Cups
Caramel Apple Pie Bars
Recipe updated 8/18/2020. For the previous version of the recipe, download the PDF.
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Caramel Apple Cupcakes
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 14-16 Cupcakes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These Caramel Apple Cupcakes are made with a spiced apple cupcake and topped with caramel icing. They melt in your mouth and are such a delicious apple dessert idea!
Ingredients
APPLE SPICE CUPCAKES
- 1 1/2 cups (195g) all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup (56g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup (60ml) vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup (52g) sugar
- 1/2 cup (112g) packed brown sugar
- 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp (43g) sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup (180ml) milk
- 1 cup finely chopped apple
CARAMEL BUTTERCREAM
- 1 1/4 cups (280g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 5 cups (575g) powdered sugar
- 4–6 tbsp caramel sauce
- Pinch of ground cinnamon
- Additional caramel sauce, for drizzling
- Apple slices, for decorating
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C) and prepare a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- Combine the flour, baking powder , cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
- Add the butter, oil and sugars to a large mixer bowl and beat together until light in color and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Do not skimp on the creaming time.
- Add the vanilla extract and sour cream and mix until well combined.
- Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until mostly combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until combined.
- Slowly add the milk and mix until well combined. The batter might look a little curdled, but that’s ok.
- Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix just until well combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Do not over mix the batter.
- Gently fold in the chopped apples.
- Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove cupcakes from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool.
- To make the caramel buttercream, add the butter to a large mixer bowl and beat until smooth.
- Carefully add about half of the powdered sugar and mix until smooth and well combined.
- Add about 4 tablespoons of the caramel sauce to the frosting and mix until well combined.
- Add the remaining powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add additional caramel sauce as needed to get the right consistency and taste.
- Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. Decorate with a drizzle of caramel sauce and apple slice
- Cupcakes are best when stored well covered in the fridge for 2-3 days. Serve at room temperature.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cupcake
- Calories: 440
- Sugar: 50.3 g
- Sodium: 75.2 mg
- Fat: 21.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 61 g
- Protein: 2.8 g
- Cholesterol: 70 mg
Categories
Enjoy!
Hi! I love your frsoting. Which tips do you use?
Thanks
I used Ateco tip 844
I had a request to make some type of cupcakes for my aunt. They didn’t order a specific type. They said “she likes caramel.” So I did a search for recipes and came across these. They only ordered a dozen, so I had a dozen left over. I had to taste them of course because I don’t want to give my customers anything that doesn’t taste good. I must say, I AM IN LOVE with this recipe. Possibly one of the best cupcakes I’ve ever tasted. I’m currently on a weight loss journey, and after tasting one I had to tell myself no more! So so good!
I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks Alauna!
Is it salted butter in the butter cream or unsalted?
Salted butter
I have made these cupcakes for a silent auction before, and they were a BIG hit. I don’t have anything to criticize on these, and they were moist, sweet, apple-y, and just downright delicious. When I made these for the silent auction, I added a cinnamon-apple filling, and the extra one that I did get to try was like taking a bite out of heaven. Today, I’m actually going to make these as a cake, with the apple filling I used last time as a filling in between the layers, and enter it in the local Texas Austin County Fair. I’d like to know if you have a recommended time to bake the cake layers for, and any tips and pointers that could possibly help me. Also, would the cake fair well if it was left out at room temperature for several hours-overnight?
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! I actually just posted a Cinnamon Apple Cake today that might be a good one to reference. These cupcakes as a cake will be quite dense, if I remember correctly. The new recipe I posted will be a little lighter. It also has a wonderful apple filling (which is very caramel-y), if you’re interested in trying that one. You could still use the caramel frosting from the cupcakes, if you wanted. I’d just double it or so, depending on how much frosting you like to use.
Are the apples inside the cupcake Supposed to be like eating a hard apple vs. poked apple (apple pie)?
The apples should soften when baking. If they didn’t, try chopping them a little smaller. You could also cook the apples prior to adding if you wanted them to be really soft.
I made these last week, but eliminated the nutmeg because I don’t like it. Seriously, the best cupcake ever!!! I had leftover icing which I froze. I’d like to turn this recipe into a cake to use the rest of the icing. Do you think it will turn out ok as a cake?
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe! Yes, it can be turned into a cake, but keep in mind that it is fairly dense. Check out my recipe for Caramel Apple Pecan Layer Cake. This is very similar to the Caramel Apple Cupcakes, just leave out the pecans.
With the buttercream recipe you said 8 cups of powder sugar but with the directions you on say to add 4 cups. Do you need 8 cups.
In step 9 you add 4 cups, and in step 11 you add the remaining. It’s 8 cups total.
Do you think you could use a little of the Carmel sauce as a cupcake filling? Would it be a huge mess, or too much Carmel?
My guess is that it would just soak into the cupcake and leave a hole. You could try poking the cupcake with some small holes and brushing some caramel on top to let that soak in.
Can I use store bought caramel ice cream topping as the caramel sauce?
You can, just keep in mind that it’ll be a thinner sauce (probably, depending on brand) and you might not need to add as much to the frosting or it’ll thin out too much. Also, if you have to add less caramel, you may not have as strong of a caramel flavor in the frosting.
I was just wondering how many cupcakes does this recipe make?
22-24 cupcakes
Is there a way to use apple sauce vs chopped apples? If so how much apple sauce would I substitute?
Thanks so much!!
I’m not sure exactly without trying it. You could try swapping out some of the milk for the applesauce.
can I make them two days before? Wonder if the cooked apple will make them get soggy or go bad. I’ve made them once before they were amazing! Thanks!
The cooked apples should be fine. Glad you’ve enjoyed them!
THIS WAS A DISGRACE TO THE CUPCAKE LORDS!! i threw up in my mouth and the flavor is still taunting me. Trust me when I saw to NOT USE THIS RECIPE!!
I love your cake plate! Where did you get it?!
It’s from Home Goods
These look amazing, can’t wait to try them next week! Quick question.. if I wanted to make mini cupcakes, how should the temperature and cooking time be adjusted? And do you think it would double the yield? Thanks!
I would probably leave the temp the same, but reduce baking time to 8-10 minutes. You’ll have to try it though. I would think it would at least double the yield.
Shouldn’t there be some sort of liquid in the frosting? Once everything was mixed, it was all crumbly. I ended up adding milk slowly to get an actual consistency. Great recipe otherwise, everyone loved them and i’ve had two people ask me for it!
In this case, the caramel was my “liquid”. If it was too thick for you though, adding the milk is how I’d thin it out. 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the cupcakes!
I made these for work today and have just a couple comments. Recipe made 18 cupcakes only for me. If you use this caramel recipe watch it closely as it gets done more quickly than you think… mine was a touch overdone I think and had a few lumps, but worked fine yet thankfully. I have about 3.5 cups of frosting leftover and I was generous, frosting similar to those pictured here. They were very tasty, moist and I received a few compliments so far.