Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Fall is here!... and apple season just about sneaked by me.  So last weekend, I went to the local orchard and bought a 1/2 bushel of apples.  The variety that I ended up with was blushing wine.  I hadn't ever heard of that particular variety before, but they looked the best.  I have to say that I really do love them.  They have a really interesting sweetness to them.

When I was growing up, my mom often made a recipe she called "Raw Apple Cake".  It was my dad's best friend's (who ended up being my father-in-law) favorite cake.  Well, just let me say..."Like father, like son".  This is my husband's favorite cake, too and since this last week was his birthday, I simply had to make him this cake.  Now I will say that I have honestly tried, on several occasions, to reduce the amount of sugar in this very decadent cake.  So far, each one of them has been a bust.  I am afraid that this cake just cannot be anything but a full on sugar-filled decadent dessert.  So I will not include the recipe here.  I will try to get it posted at  Raw Apple Cake - Digging Through The Recipe Drawer 

Since it was obvious that this cake was not going to be a good choice for me, I decided that I would try to make some apple cupcakes as well.  I had seen several recipes come across my Facebook page and in some magazines, I had seen some other recipes for apple and caramel apple cupcakes.  They always are asking for melted caramel candies and that just puts it a little out of my reach.  So I put my thinking cap on and came up with this  No Sugar Added  recipe:

• one yellow sugar-free cake mix
• one cup of no-sugar-added apple cider
• three eggs
• 1/3 c. vegetable oil
• 1/2 c. non-fat plain yogurt
• 2 packets of sugar-free apple cider mix
• 4 apples; peeled, cored and chopped

Additional ingredients:

• one jar of sugar-free caramel ice cream topping
• one can of sugar-free vanilla frosting
• 2 packets of sugar-free apple cider mix
• chopped pecans; optional

Step one is to mix the cake mix, mostly according to the directions, but substituting the apple cider for the water.  (Since I had so many apples, I made my own apple cider, but I am not sure that I would do that again.)  You also want to enhance the cake mix, by adding the yogurt and the powdered apple cider mix. 

 I mixed the cake mix up and let it sit while I peeled and chopped the apples.  It seemed to let the cake mix become lighter by the time I folded the apples in.

 Here is where I went a little unconventional.  Instead of putting the cupcake liners into my muffin tin, I just sprayed them really well, and added the batter directly in.  As you can see, I filled them almost full.  Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.

 Once the cupcakes are done, let them cool for a short time, maybe around 5 minutes, in the pan.  Use a butter knife and run around the outside edge to be sure that they are loosened.  The knife will help you to kind of turn the cupcake on its edge and you can pick it up easily.

Set out your cupcake liners on a tray and then turn your cupcakes UPSIDE DOWN in the liners.  This will expose the porous bottom.

Spoon half the jar of caramel ice cream topping into a small bowl and stir.  Add just a little apple cider to the caramel; approximately 1 tablespoon.  Stir well to get a smooth consistency.  Spoon one full spoonful over each cupcake and allow to soak in and drip down the side.  By waiting to put the cupcakes into the liner until after they are baked, it allows the caramel to drip down the side.

 Give the cupcakes a chance to cool and meanwhile mix up the frosting.  In a medium bowl, mix the can of vanilla frosting with a large spoonful of caramel ice cream topping and two packets of apple cider mix.  Stir with a spatula until caramel and powder are fully mixed in.

Put frosting in a bag with the tip of your choice and frost cooled cupcakes.

As an option, you can also top each cupcake with a pinch of chopped pecans.

These cupcakes went over great.  My husband took some to work and they were gone so quickly that he didn't even get to have one.  (Well, he did have that apple cake for his birthday party the day before!)

These are probably one of my favorite cupcakes that I have made, so I made them again a few days later for my monthly quilt guild meeting.  They disappeared just as quickly!  You really have to give them a try.

You can imagine that I did not use up that 1/2 bushel of apples just making a cake and a couple of recipes of cupcakes.  See all of the other things that I made with my apples here.