Caramel Apple Pie Cupcakes
Caramel apple pie cupcakes are a combination of three amazing desserts into one epic sweet treat.
If you love caramel apples, apple pie, and cupcakes, then you are going to go crazy for this recipe.
These yummy cupcakes are filled with apple pie filling and topped with a melt-in-your-mouth caramel buttercream frosting.
Not only that, I have a few different cute garnish ideas for these apple cupcakes.
You’ll have so much fun decorating these cupcakes (more on that later).
This crowd-pleasing dessert is so versatile. It’s the perfect Thanksgiving or fall dessert but really you can enjoy these all year round too!
Below you’ll find helpful information and decorating tips that are worth reading but you can always just skip to the recipe card if you want.
Click here to jump to recipe.
How To Make Caramel Apple Pie Cupcakes
This recipe makes about ten cupcakes but if you want more you can always double the recipe.
First, Place paper liners into a cupcake pan and set them aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar, extract, and eggs. Then, mix all your dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Start mixing your dry ingredients with your wet ingredients until they are completely mixed together and the batter is smooth.
Pour your batter into the cupcake liners and cook at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Make sure your fork comes out completely clean.
If your fork doesn’t come out clean, cook them longer but keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.
Place your cupcakes on a baking rack and let them cool completely. If you don’t have a baking rack, place the cupcakes on a plate.
This step is really important because you don’t want your cupcakes to keep cooking in the hot pan.
Now for the fun part, time to fill your cupcakes!
Core out the middle of the cupcake with a knife or a cupcake corer. Then, scoop apple pie filling into the core.
If you’re wondering what to do with the cupcake pieces you scooped out, I like to enjoy them later dipped in leftover frosting or caramel sauce. So good!
And now for the caramel buttercream frosting! Use a piping bag to frost your cupcakes. If you don’t have a piping bag, a knife works too.
You can stop there and just have frosting on your cupcakes, which look really nice. But if you want to step it up a bit, you can add some decorations to your cupcakes.
Below you’ll find a few cute ways to garnish your apple caramel cupcakes. I wanted you guys multiple options!
4 Easy Ways To Decorate Apple Cupcakes
You can either opt to garnish your cupcakes just one way or do a mix of all of them. Feel free to use these as inspiration and really get creative with how you finish off these cupcakes!
Caramel sauce, apple pie filling, and apple slices.
If you are going for an over the top loaded cupcake, this is the way to go.
Because if you can’t decide whether to decorate your cupcakes with caramel sauce, apple pie fillings or small apple slices, just use them all! Yum!
Apple pie filling and apple slices.
If you want just a little bit of toppings but still want the frosting peeking through, you might want to opt for this option.
Just apple spices.
For a classic and minimal decoration, just placing an apple slice on the cupcakes is perfect!
You could even dip the apple slices in caramel so you have just a touch of another topping.
Naked cupcakes with caramel sauce and a small apple slice.
Another way to present these cupcakes is by ditching the cupcake liner and just adding a small caramel drizzle and apple slice.
Let me know in the comments below how you ended up decorating your apple cupcakes!
Easy Caramel Apple Pie Cupcakes
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1 cup butter
- 2 cups flour
- ¾ cup sugar
- 5 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 can apple pie filling
Caramel Buttercream Frosting
- ½ cup salted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 5 tbsp heavy whipping cream
- 1 tbsp dulce de leche
Garnishes (Optional)
- 10 apple slices
- caramel sauce
- apple pie filling
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat your oven to 350° degrees. Place paper liners into a cupcake pan and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar, extract, and eggs. Then, mix all your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder) in a separate bowl.
- Start mixing your dry ingredients into your bowl with wet ingredients until they are completely mixed together and the batter is smooth.
- Pour your batter into the cupcake liners and cook at 350° for 25 minutes. Make sure your fork comes out completely clean.If your fork doesn't come out clean, cook them longer but keep an eye on them so they don't burn.
- Let your cupcakes cool completely.
Filling Your Cupcakes
- Core out the middle of the cupcake with a knife or a cupcake corer. Then, scoop apple pie filling into the core.
- If you want to garnish your cupcakes with a little bit of apple pie filling on top, be sure to set aside a small amount of apple pie filling.
Caramel Buttercream Frosting
- Cream together salted butter, vanilla extract, heavy whipping cream and dulce de leche. Mix in powdered sugar to the mixture.
- Using a piping bag, pipe frosting on top of the cupcake and add garnishes.(There are a few different garnish options, take a look below this recipe card for topping ideas.)
Notes
- See below for different ways you can decorate your caramel apple cupcakes.
- If you’re wondering what to serve with your apple pie cupcakes, see the below section.
What To Serve With Apple Filled Cupcakes
These of course are beyond amazing on their own but I want to give you some ideas on what you could serve with them.
Ice Cream or frozen custard.
Just like regular apple pie, these would be quite tasty with vanilla ice cream or frozen custard.
Coffee.
I’m all for having coffee with my dessert and the caramel flavor would be delicious with coffee!
Cheddar Slices.
Some people love pairing apple desserts with cheddar cheese. Since these cupcakes are so filling I wouldn’t have more than a small slice or two.
