Apple Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream Frosting
Wow. It’s been a while since I’ve posted a cupcake recipe. Over a year. That’s too long. I’ve transgressed. Please forgive me.
Allow me to inform you, though, that these apple cupcakes with maple buttercream frosting are worth the wait. Maybe not worth a year of waiting, tbh, because an entire year without a new cupcake recipe is ridiculous. But these cupcakes are worth it enough that they have merited to be the first cupcake recipe I’ve decided to post in so long.
These apple cupcakes are, quite simply, delectable.
I love a good apple cake. Apple cakes are classic and nostalgic and comforting. And they’re also usually (hopefully) more than the regular amount of moist and soft and tender when compared to, say, a vanilla cake.
It’s those apples. The succulent slices and fruit juices seep into the cake batter and make the cake extra squishy and velvety.
And also. Apple cakes usually get some extra spices added to the mix. Spices like cinnamon and ginger and nutmeg, those cozy fall/winter flavors that are rich and deep and warm and earthy and woody.
And all the above applies to these apple cupcakes with maple buttercream. These apple cupcakes are insanely moist and tender and fluffy and soft and squishy and melt-in-your-mouth. And they’re packed with succulent, tart apple wedges. And they’re filled with cozy, warm spices.
Also. This apple cupcake batter can be made by hand, in one bowl, in minutes.
The batter for these cupcakes is actually dairy-free. I always find that oil pairs so well with apple cakes and provides that amazing texture. No butter needed.
Butter is very much needed, however, in our maple buttercream frosting. Lots of butter. With lots of pure maple syrup. And a little vanilla extract and salt. And lots of confectioners sugar, to finish the frosting off.
This maple buttercream frosting is light and velvety and creamy, and it’s got that full-bodied maple flavor that you ain’t gonna find every day in your frostings. It’s so rich and flavorful, and the perfect complement to the moist apple cupcakes.
Apples. Plus maple. Obviously I was going to pair those two flavors together. I mean. It’s January. It had to happen.
Soft and tender and moist and squishy cupcakes that are filled with succulent, tart, sweet apples and warm, earthy spices, that get finished off with a hefty piping of velvety, rich maple buttercream frosting.
Apple cupcakes with maple buttercream frosting — you be melting my heart and my tongue.
Apple Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream Frosting
Yield: 12 cupcakes
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup canola/vegetable oil
1/3 cup orange juice
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups packed flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 small, tart apples, cubed or sliced into thin half wedges
Maple Buttercream:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar through vanilla extract until smooth.
3. Pour the dry ingredients over the wet and stir everything together until just combined. Mix in the apple wedges/cubes last.
4. Using a large cookie scoop, divide batter evenly between liners. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until cupcakes spring back when touched and a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out just clean. Cool before frosting.
5. Maple Frosting: whip the butter until fluffy (with a whisk attachment). Add in the maple syrup, vanilla extract, and salt and beat for a few minutes till combined (mixture may look curdled — that’s okay). Add in the confectioners sugar and whip until frosting is light and fluffy.
6. Assembly: Insert a flower tip or round decorating tip into a piping bag. Fill with frosting. Pipe a spiral design onto each cooled cupcake.
