These caramel apple cupcakes are the perfect blend of fluffy, soft, and moist. Studded with diced apples and topped with a generous swirl of caramel cinnamon buttercream frosting, they taste like a sweet caramel apple, and are perfect for the Fall season!
This is one of my Cupcake recipes I know you’ll want to keep on hand!
As impressive as massive layer cakes are, I definitely prefer cupcakes. They’re so cute, easy to decorate, easily feed a crowd, and are easily freeze-able.
Plus I feel they’re a lot easier to store than a big layer cake.
One thing I really love is desserts that taste like other things, like my chai latte cupcakes, or my gingerbread cupcakes.
This cupcake recipe tastes like one of my favorite desserts, a juicy caramel apple!
Made from scratch, these cupcakes are such a perfect Fall treat, and I just know you’ll love them.
What do I need to make this recipe?
- Flour – no need for specialty flour, just regular all purpose.
- Baking powder – this aids in rising, so the cupcakes puff up.
- Salt – salt enhances the other flavors, and provides balance.
- Nutmeg – such a great warm fall and winter spice.
- Cinnamon – there’s cinnamon in both the cupcake batter, and the frosting.
- Butter – this recipe was developed and tested with unsalted butter.
- Vegetable oil – the oil adds moisture; but just make sure it’s vegetable or another neutral flavorless oil.
- Granulated sugar – no cupcake would be complete without sugar to make it sweet.
- Eggs – this recipe was developed and tested using large eggs.
- Vanilla – I prefer the flavor of real vanilla extract, rather than the clear imitation variety.
- Milk – I use whole milk, since that’s what I keep on hand at home.
- Apple – for baking, I prefer to use Granny Smith apples.
- Caramel syrup – store-bought or homemade will work well.
- Powdered sugar – this adds the sweetness to the buttercream frosting.
How to make caramel apple cupcakes:
This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.
- Combine dry ingredients. I like to do this in a smaller mixing bowl. In this recipe, it would be the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
- Beat wet ingredients. You’ll want a bigger bowl for this, and using a mixer is highly recommended.
- Combine both wet and dry. Add the flour mixture to the larger mixing bowl and beat until combined.
- Add apples. Stir in chopped apples. I prefer to do this with a rubber spatula.
- Scoop and bake. You can scoop or spoon the batter into the muffin pan.
- Beat butter. This can be done in a stand mixer or hand mixer. In addition to the butter, you’ll be mixing in the vanilla, caramel sauce, and cinnamon.
- Add spices, then sugar. Do this gradually, and with a low speed to keep the sugar from flying out of the bowl.
- Pipe and serve. Transfer the frosting to a piping bag fitted with any decorating tip you’d like (or you can just spread the frosting on with a butter knife or offset spatula), and top the cooled cupcakes with frosting.
Helpful Tip!
For the perfect cupcakes, have all the cold ingredients at room temperature before you start mixing. Room temp ingredients will always mix together better and more fully, than cold ones will.
Variations of this recipe
- Peeled apples – if apple skins gross you out, you can certainly peel the apple before dicing it.
- Oil – you’re free to use your favorite neutral-flavored oil instead of the vegetable oil called for.
- Salted butter – if you only have salted butter, you can use that. Just omit the salt from the cupcake batter.
- Vanilla bean paste – instead of the vanilla extract, for a more robust vanilla flavor, feel free to use vanilla bean paste.
- Homemade caramel – to keep things easy, this recipe uses store-bought caramel sauce, but if you would like to make a homemade version, this browned butter caramel sauce goes perfectly with these cupcakes!
- Larger batch – this recipe is easily doubled if you need 24 cupcakes.
FAQ’s
I highly recommend Granny Smith apples for this recipe. They’re the perfect blend of crisp (so they don’t fall apart during the baking process), and tart (so they don’t overpower the cupcakes with sweetness)
I’m certain that it could, although I haven’t tested it to be able to tell you how long it should be baked, or at what temperature. However, if you’d like to do some baking experimenting, I’d love to know what worked for you, and I’ll credit you in the recipe!
Making cupcakes ahead of time
Cupcakes are great to make ahead of time, because when stored properly, they can last a couple of days before frosting.
Although, for the best moist texture and fluffiness, I don’t usually like to make mine more than a day ahead of time.
Storage
Leftover, frosted cupcakes can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3-5 days, in an airtight container.
Unfrosted cupcakes can be stored at room temperature for up to 5 days, in an airtight container.
Unfrosted cupcakes can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Freezing
To freeze unfrosted cupcakes, add cupcakes to a baking sheet and place the whole thing in the freezer for about 2 hours, or until hard.
Wrap frozen cupcakes individually in plastic wrap, then transfer to an airtight freezer-safe container, label it with the date, then freeze.
Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before frosting.
Tips for perfect cupcakes!
- Room temperature ingredients. As I mentioned earlier in the post, the ingredients will all mix together better if they’re room temperature.
- Be careful with how much you’re mixing. Over mixing can leave you with a tough, overly dense cupcake. Just mix the dry ingredients into the batter until no flour streaks remain as you stir.
- Pay attention to how much you’re filling the cupcake liners. Follow what the recipe suggests for how full to make them. Fill them too much and they can overflow, too little and they won’t even reach the tops of the liners.
- For optimal results, bake one pan at a time. I know it’s a hassle, and most of the time, I’m guilty of cramming two pans in there side by side (but then rotating and switching sides halfway through baking). But when you’re starting out, or want perfect cupcakes, bake one pan, and put the pan right in the middle of the center rack.
- Let them cool. Don’t try to frost a cupcake that’s still warm, it’ll end up a big ol’ mess. Let the cupcakes cool, then pile up that frosting as high as you’d like!
- Follow the recipe. This may seem like a no-brainer, but there’s a reason the recipe is written the way it is; because it works that way. With cooking you may be able to swap out certain ingredients, guess on the measurements, etc, but with baking you really don’t want to do that. Only use any substitutions specifically mentioned, and follow everything to the letter.
My Favorite Cupcake Pan!
I’ve had several of these pans for years, and they’ve held up so well! Not to mention they clean up like a dream.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
Wet ingredients
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup whole milk
Stir-ins
- 1 cup diced apple Granny Smith is preferred (about 1 medium to large apple)
Caramel cinnamon buttercream
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 2 Tbsp caramel sauce/syrup store-bought or homemade caramel sauce will work
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 cups powdered sugar whisked to remove any lumps
For serving
- apple slices
- additional caramel syrup
Instructions
Prepare
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
Combine dry ingredients
- To a mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Whisk to combine, then set aside for now.
Beat wet ingredients
- In a separate bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer), add softened butter, granulated sugar and oil. Beat until smooth and fluffy.
- Add eggs and vanilla, then beat until combined.
Combine wet and dry
- Add half of the dry ingredients mixture to the bowl with the wet ingredients, beating until just combined.
- Add milk, and beat until combined. Add the last half of the dry ingredients, beating until just combined and no flour streaks remain.
Stir in apple
- Use a rubber spatula to stir the diced apples into the batter.
Bake
- Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins, filling them about 2/3 of the way full.
- Bake in preheated oven for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out with just a few moist crumbs, or clean.
- Let cupcakes cool on a wire cooling rack until they're room temperature.
Make frosting
- Add butter, caramel sauce, vanilla extract, and cinnamon to a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer), and beat with a mixer until smooth and creamy.
- Add in powdered sugar, a little at a time, mixing on a lower speed to prevent the sugar from flying out of the mixer.
- Increase the mixer speed to medium, and beat for another minute or until the frosting is smooth and fluffy.
Frost and garnish cupcakes
- Transfer frosting to piping bag fitted with your desired decorating tip (or your desired tip), and once the cupcakes are completely cooled, pipe swirls of frosting onto cupcakes.
- **Alternately, you can spread the frosting on top of the cupcakes with a butter knife or offset spatula.**
- Garnish with a drizzle of caramel sauce/syrup and an apple slice if desired. Serve and enjoy!
Want to save this recipe for later? Click the heart in the bottom right corner to save to your own recipe box!
Chef Tips
- This recipe makes approximately 12 cupcakes, which you’re free to divide into as many servings as you’d like.
- Times listed do not include the time to cool the cupcakes, as this will vary from person to person and home to home.
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Phyllis says
it was DELICOUS.
Jackie says
Hi
What method do you use to measure your flour?
The Chunky Chef says
I whisk the flour in the container to fluff it up a bit, then gently scoop and level with the back of a knife.