Apple Pie Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

My name is Kelly and I have an addiction to Pinterest. Since joining Pinterest, I have found inspiration from so many different types of cupcakes. When I saw some apple pie cupcakes I thought it would be the perfect creation to make for our bake off. For those of you who don't know my husband Andy, apple pie is one of his favorite treats. Andy can be a bit picky about sweets, and, well, just food in general. So, if I could make an apple pie cupcake that he would enjoy, I would consider it a success.

I started working on the cupcake batter by sifting the dry ingredients. Jen bought me a sifter for my birthday and I needed to give it a little tough love to get my dry ingredients nice and fluffy.

With my hand mixer, I creamed the butter and sugar. Then, I added four eggs mixing after each one. I added a little vanilla extract. I added the dry ingredients to the mixture by alternating with milk. The batter tasted nice and sweet, but I wanted it to have a little more of an apple pie taste. I sprinkled in a little cinnamon and then peeled and boiled one Granny Smith green apple.

I pureed the apple with Logan's Baby Bullet after they were soft. You can use a regular blender for this step too. I mixed in the apple with the cake batter and acheived the subtle apple cinnamon taste I was going for. You don't want to go too heavy with flavor since you will be making an apple filling and cinnamon frosting.

While the cupcakes were baking our photographer took a break to catch up on the news.

I started working on the apple filling mixture. On the stove, I started heating up some butter, cinnamon and sugar.

I also worked on peeling and dicing three more Granny Smith apples. After the cinnamon sugar mixture was heated, I added in the apples and cooked them until they were soft.


The apples are going to be a little tart still, but that's ok. The tartness is needed to counterbalance the cake and frosting.

Once the cupcakes were cooled, I started hollowing out the centers with a baby spoon. Once again, you can use any tool in your kitchen to hollow out the insides of the cupcakes. Just use whatever is handy, but be careful not to puncture the bottom of the cupcakes. The baby spoon worked great for spooning in the apple filling. On second thought, maybe you should just get a baby spoon since it worked so well.


The cupcakes looked so delicious after the filling was put in. Almost good enough to eat without frosting. However, without frosting a cupcake is just an ugly muffin. In this case, though, it would have been a pretty muffin.

After the cupcakes were filled, I whipped up some cinnamon buttercream frosting. So good! I drew a circle around the cupcake with the frosting using a wide star tip.


The cupcakes were delicious and I highly suggest you make them.

Apple Pie Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

Cupcake Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 cup cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 Granny Smith apple pureed

Directions:
1. Preheat over to 350 F.
2. In a medium bowl, sift flour, cake flour, baking powder and salt.
3. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla extract.
4. Add dry ingredients and milk alternating with each addition.
5. Peel and boil Granny Smith apple. After the apple is soft, puree and add to batter with cinnamon.
6. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake 18 to 22 minutes until golden. Allow cupcakes to cool.

Apple Filling Ingredients:
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp sugar
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced

Directions:
1. Heat butter in skillet. Add cinnamon and sugar and cook until hot and bubbly.
2. Add diced apples to mixture and heat until apples are tender. It will take about 10 minutes. Be sure to mix frequently.

When the apple mixture cools, core the cupcakes and fill the cupcakes. Let the apples come out of the top, but leave room around the sides for frosting.

Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
4 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1. Using an electric mixer combine butter and sugar, adding sugar one cup at a time.
2. Add milk, vanilla and cinnamon and beat for 1 minute.
3. If the frosting is too runny add more powdered sugar. If it's too thick add more milk.
4. Use a wide star tip and frost around the outside edge of the cupcakes.

This recipe is adapted from Annie's Eats and Food.com. It is inspired by The Tale of Two Kitchens blog.