Apple Spice Cupcakes With Praline Filling and Brown Sugar Frosting
Celebrate the best fall flavors with these moist, decadent apple spice cupcakes! Filled with a luscious pecan praline sauce and topped with a brown sugar buttercream, these fall cupcakes are the perfect seasonal dessert. Fall baking has never been more delicious.
Servings 24 cupcakes
Calories 430kcal
Equipment
- Mixing bowls
- Cupcake liners
- Muffin tin
- Wire racks
Ingredients
Apple Spice Cupcakes
- ½ cup salted butter
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg preferably freshly grated
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 2 cups peeled and grated apples preferably a combination of sweet and tart, such as Honeycrisp and Granny Smith
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or paste
- 1 teaspoon maple extract
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Praline Filling
- ¼ cup salted butter
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup dark corn syrup
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- Pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
Brown Sugar Frosting
- 2 cups salted butter softened
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or paste
- 2 pounds powdered sugar about 7 ½ to 8 cups
- ¼ cup heavy cream or milk
Instructions
Apple Spice Cupcakes
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place liners in muffin pan. Bonus points for festive fall-themed liners.
- Melt butter over medium heat in a small skillet until it turns a golden brown. Whisk occasionally. Remove from heat. This is our brown butter.
- Stir together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk together the brown butter, eggs, grated apples, white and brown sugars, applesauce, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and maple extract until combined. When adding the brown butter, use a spatula to get all those brown bits.
- Spoon about a ¼ cup of dry ingredients into the batter and mix to fully blend. Repeat this process until you mix in all the dry ingredients. Stir in chopped pecans.
- Spoon the batter into the muffin liners. Fill about half way to two-thirds the way up the liners. Bake for 18 minutes. Insert a toothpick into a cupcake. If it comes out clean, remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, cut a small hole in the center of each cupcake, spoon in praline filling and top with brown sugar frosting if desired. Enjoy!
Praline Filling
- Melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add pecans and cook for about four minutes until the pecans are toasted and the butter begins to brown.
- Whisk in dark brown sugar, heavy cream, dark corn syrup, cornstarch and salt. Constantly whisking, cook until the sauce comes to a boil and thickens. This should take about six to eight minutes.
- Turn off the heat and stir in vanilla extract.
Brown Sugar Frosting
- Beat the butter until fluffy. Add the dark brown sugar, molasses and vanilla extract. Beat until the dark brown sugar is incorporated.
- Add the dark brown sugar, molasses and vanilla extract. Beat until the dark brown sugar is incorporated. Add powdered sugar and heavy cream as needed.
- Once all the powdered sugar is incorporated, beat for a couple additional minutes.
Notes
- About four or five apples should be enough to grate 2 cups. You can use a box grater to grate the apples.
- The frosting recipe makes enough to pipe on cupcakes. If you plan to spread frosting on using a knife instead, you can cut the frosting recipe in half.
- For best results, do not scoop your measuring cup into the flour. This packs in too much flour and can mess up the entire recipe. Instead, spoon the flour into a measuring cup and level with a butter knife.
- Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cupcake | Calories: 430kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 17g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 231mg | Sugar: 56g