These toffee apple cupcakes are the perfect taste of Autumn. A spiced apple cupcake, filled with a caramel sauce and topped with creamy caramel buttercream. The perfect treat after a chilly Autumn walk.
It's officially autumn in our household... I've baked with apples!
Oh and I've got my winter PJs on, and the winter duvet is about to come out of storage.
The last week has been 'hit and miss' with the weather, yet it's been my busiest wedding week of the year. My Brides have had a mixture of everything except for snow! Now I've said that it's bound to happen, isn't it?
Anyway, as I said autumn is officially here for us.
The apple tree in the garden is dropping what fruit is left after the wasps have been at it, although I did manage to salvage some; just enough to make some seriously autumnal cupcakes.
I'd love to be able to name the variety of apple that we have in the garden, but we inherited a scraggly tree and all we know is its an apple tree. We were surprised that it gave us any fruit, and very nice fruit at that; it really wasn't healthy looking.
Three years on, it's had a good prune, some love and care, and is now a little less scraggly, although quite short. But it still produces apples and we get a reasonably good crop.
Last year we were away on honeymoon when the apples were ready, and Ian's parents 'looked after' them for us so we didn't get to taste any; this year we've been attacked by wasps. We "think" the neighbours have a nest in their eaves, and the little blighters took a shine to our fruit trees, in particular, the plum has been wasp party central.
They were an absolute nuisance but the recent rain has sorted that one out for us. However, needless to say, the plums haven't made it into the kitchen this year.
Anyway, since leaving the shop, I've not had much chance to experiment with cupcake concoctions; so during my mammoth bakeathon last weekend, I decided to transform some of the apples into one of my favourite cupcakes.
When it comes to an autumn cake, in my world, there's nothing more comforting than a spiced apple. Add a little caramel into the mix and you've got toffee apple cupcakes, autumn in a cake case!
These are a little step up from the toffee apple cupcakes I used to make for the shop which were made with grated apple. This time, I made them with a homemade apple sauce, a pinch of cinnamon and a splash of brandy; perfect! Because of the apple sauce, they are a very moist cupcake.
Looking for more inspiration?
Fancy trying some other Easter treats, then why not check out these recipes for inspiration:
- Kit Kat Cupcakes
- Baileys Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes
- Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes
- Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes
- Cinnamon Doughnut Cupcakes
- Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
Pin Toffee Apple Cupcakes
Have you made this recipe?
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Toffee Apple Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the apple sauce:
- 6 Apples - Braeburn and Granny Smith roughly chopped into 1 inch chunks.
- 2 Tbsp Soft Dark Brown Sugar
- 45 g Unsalted Butter
- ½ tsp Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 tbsp Brandy
- 3 tbsp Cold Water
For the cupcakes:
- 150 g Self Raising Flour
- 125 g Caster Sugar
- 85 g Unsalted Butter
- 1 Egg
- 100 g Apple Sauce
- ½ tsp Mixed Spice
- ½ tsp Cinnamon
- ¼ tsp Baking Powder
- 150 g Dulce de Leche/ Carnation Caramel
For the buttercream:
- 250 g Unsalted Butter
- 500 g Icing Sugar
- 50 g Soft Toffees eg. Werthers Chewy Caramels
- 2 tbsp Double Cream
Instructions
For the Apple Sauce:
- In a heavy bottomed saucepan, add the apples, sugar, butter, cinnamon, vanilla, brandy and water.
- Gently heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the apples have formed a chunky puree. Do not boil the mixture.
- Remove the mixture from the heat, and allow to cool.
For the Cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 180C or 160C (fan).
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
- Add the egg, and beat until well combined.
- Add the apple sauce, gently mix until well combined.
- Sieve the flour, cinnamon, mixed space and baking powder and gently fold in the mixture.
- Line a deep muffin tray with 12 cupcake cases.
- Use an ice cream scoop to divide the mixture the cupcake cases, approximately 1 scoop per case.
- Bake for 18 minutes, until golden brown or a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Leave to cool on a wire rack.
- When cooled, using an apple corer, core each cupcake and fill with the Dulce de Leche.
For the Buttercream:
- To make the caramel sauce, in a small saucepan gently heat the toffees and the double cream, stirring continuously until the toffee have melted.
- Remove the mixture from the heat, and allow to cool.
- To a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter until soft. Add half of the icing sugar, and beat until smooth.
- Add the remaining icing sugar and 2 tbsp of the cool caramel sauce. Beat until smooth.
- If the buttercream is too stiff, add a tbsp of whole milk and beat until smooth.
To Decorate:
- Fill a piping bag fitted with a 1cm plain/smooth nozzle with the caramel buttercream.
- Pipe the buttercream onto the cupcakes in a swirl shape and drizzle with the remaining caramel sauce.
- To finish the cupcakes, top with an apple crisp. To make the apple crisps, core an apple and thinly slice. Lay the apple slices on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Dust the apple slices with cinnamon and bake at 180C for 40 minutes, flipping the slices half way through. These could be baked at the same time as the cupcakes.
Notes
Nutrition
Disclaimer: The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using online tools. Information can vary depending on various factors, but we have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible.
oana79
Beautiful, it's probably not a good idea to check all these gorgeous recipes as I get really hungry here 🙂
Emily (@amummytoo)
Oh, they're beautiful! And apple, cinnamon and toffee is such a yummy combination.
Louise
Thanks. Apple and cinnamon is definitely my autumn food combination 🙂 x
Mary Key
I'm drooling in my keyboard now! thaey look soooo good!
Louise
Hehe 🙂 They're rather good, if I do say so myself; and definitely one of my favourites.
Lucy Heath (@capturebylucy)
Oh these completely sum up Autumn in one bite - delicious!
Louise
Thank you Lucy! There's nothing more that says autumn than apple and cinnamon, for me 🙂
isabelle Collins
Strangely I was chatting (OK, whining) to my American friend Jason about not having enough butter to make my muffins for this week and he suggested using apple sauce instead. Given that I had less of it than butter, not that helpful, but interesting idea nonetheless.
Louise
Iz, I've a couple of different cake recipes when apple sauce is used as a substitute, do try it 🙂 xxx
TheBoyandMe
Oh I love the way that you've presented this, the dried apple ring is so cute with the drizzle!
Louise
Thank you. The apple crisps are so easy to do, I do them occasionally just as a snack if we've lots of apples that need eating up. The cupcakes are everything autumn for me, with the spices etc, and the apple sauce goes nicely with a roast pork sandwich 😉
Alison
These look gorgeous!
Louise
Thank you, they're rather delicious too!