Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

I got my first true feeling that Autumn had arrived this week. I stepped out of my house to pick up my son from school, and the air had that crispness in it that always arrives in September. Even though it was a pleasantly warm afternoon, there was that Autumn 'feeling' that I get around the time school starts.

We have 2 apple and 1 pear tree in our garden. The apples start to fall pretty early on and it's very frustrating when you come out of a morning and find them all around with wasps in them!  That's not to say I don't get a bumper crop out of the ones still on the tree however!

Apples are the fruit of the season so what better time than to share my Apple Cinnamon cupcakes. 

 

They are topped with a very sweet salted caramel frosting. This is the frosting I used to decorate my son's cake. The left over frosting was the perfect complement in taste and colour!

Choc full of apples!

Cinnamon is a must when making apple desserts. In this recipe I have used cinnamon extract. You can of course use ground cinnamon, but I wanted quite an intense flavour, so opted for the extract.

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

Makes 12

Ingredients

1 apple, peeled and finely chopped

1 tbs butter

120g plain flour

70g light brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

40g butter

120 ml milk (I used semi skimmed)

1 egg

1/2 tsp cinnamon extract or 1tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180'C (350'F) and line a cupcake tray with 12 cupcake liners.

2. Peel and chop the apple discarding the core. Take your tablespoon of butter and melt over a low heat in a small pan. Once melted, add the chopped apple and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Give the apples an occasional stir. Take off the heat to cool slightly.

3. Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter until everything is combined. The mixture should look a little sandy.

4. Add the egg and milk and mix until just combined. Then add the extract.

5. Add the apples and fold in to disperse.

6. Fill your liners with the batter (about half way to 3/4) and bake for 20 minutes. The cakes should be golden brown and when tested with a toothpick, it should come out clean. Leave to cool on a rack.

You can frost these with anything from cream cheese, vanilla, brown sugar etc. The caramel frosting I used is incredibly sweet so just a light spread on top is enough.

The frosting was made with a combination of Trex, icing sugar, tinned caramel and sea salt. To frost 12 cupcakes you would need :-

1/2 cup Trex

250g icing sugar

A small tin of caramel

1 tsp of sea salt or more to taste.

This is just an approximate as I was using left over frosting which had been made in a larger quantity.

The apples provide a nice moist texture combined with a light fluffy cake.

I hope you try these and let me know what you think!

Have a great weekend!