caramel apple

i think i nearly died of happiness while waiting for the caramel (which goes into the caramel buttercream frosting) to cool. i was swirling it around in a bowl to speed up the cooling process, and the whole time i planted my nose just a couple inches away from the bowl because i couldn’t get enough of the smell of the caramel. it was like i was sucking on a See’s butterscotch lollipop, only through my nostrils. the recipe for the cake part was pretty similar to the pumpkin spice cake recipe, only this time i combined the spices myself and used regular sugar instead of brown sugar to get a lighter taste and color. i was also thinking that the apple sauce provides a lot of moisture, so i cut down on the butter a bit.

i fought the urge to sample the cupcake at home so that i could enjoy it with my labmates the next day. it was huge hit with them, and i seriously couldn’t stop smiling to myself after i took my first bite into the caramel buttercream. to my surprise, it tasted as good as it smelled. and the cake! it was so moist and crumbly at the same time. i thought the apple flavor could’ve been stronger – this might be achieved using grated apple - but people seemed to enjoy the mildness of the cake, saying that it complemented the frosting perfectly. having the fresh slice of apple on top really made you feel as if you were biting into a caramel apple, too.

Caramel Apple cupcakes

24 regular cupcakes / 350 degree oven
1-1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs, room temp
2-1/3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder*
1 tsp baking soda*
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1 cup unsweetened natural apple sauce
*oops! Sorry, I forgot to include these in my original post.

Beat butter for 30 seconds, until fluffy. Add sugar gradually and beat for 2 minutes (this should be plenty for a hand mixer). Add eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Measure out milk and apple sauce, and mix the two together. To the butter and sugar, add 1/4 of the flour mixture and beat to mix. Add 1/3 of the milk/apple sauce mixture and beat to mix. Continue to alternate and mix, ending with the flour mixture. Batter will be very fluffy; I filled each cupcake liner more than 3/4 full, and this gave me a nice rounded top. Bake for 22-25 minutes (this recipe takes longer to bake, compared to the last one). I also rotated the pans after 15 minutes, just to get more even baking.

Caramel Buttercream

1 stick butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Melt butter in a small pot, and add in brown sugar and salt, stirring constantly. Bring to a rolling boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and mix in the milk. Return to heat and bring to boil. Allow to cool in a mixing bowl for 20 minutes (I was impatient, so I propped this bowl in an iced water bath-bowl, and swirled the bowls continuously.) Gradually beat in sifted powdered sugar (i learned that this makes a huge difference – i first added in nonsifted sugar and it looked lumpy, so i decided to sift the rest), until you reach desired consistency (I purposely wanted to achieve a super thick consistency, because I realized that the piping process heats up the frosting and it always comes out more runny than i expect…so it doesn’t hurt to overcompensate.) Use a large round tip and pastry bag to frost the cupcakes. This recipe yields enough to lightly frost the cupcakes (ie, don’t start the spiral at the very edge of the cupcakes). Top frosting with a thin slice of Granny Smith apple (soaked in lemon juice/water mixture, and then dried with paper towel).