Irresistible Caramel Apple Cupcake Recipe with Caramel Whipped Cream Frosting

This recipe for caramel apple cupcakes topped with a light and fluffy caramel whipped cream frosting is the perfect balance of sweet caramel and tart apple flavors in every bite.

Caramel whipped cream frosting on top of a cupcake.

It’s supposed to be fall, but today we went to the park and I was almost sweating because of how warm it was. Anyone else? It’s already November, so if fall doesn’t start soon, I’m afraid it’s just going to jump straight to winter and start snowing! Before we went to the park, we had a big shopping trip at Ikea. Since we recently moved from Utah to Kansas City, and bought our first house, we’ve become loyal Ikea shoppers. I have three kids, where two can (and do) wreak havoc, and one is about 6 months away from it. I love that I can buy a cheap table and chairs, where I don’t have to freak out when the kids draw all over it with markers. As in, that’s a true story, the dining room bench is covered in marker…

Anyways, I used to love strolling around Ikea, looking at the cute rooms, thinking someday I’d have my own house where I can have a cute little this and pretty little that. Now my husband and I throw our oldest in Smaland and then do a mad dash through the top floor to check everything out before our one hour is up and we have to pick her up. Then we are dragging three kids through the bottom floor and pushing two giant carts full of stuff while trying to keep their hands away from the glass bottles and plates and and and… Basically it’s crazy and it wipes us out for the rest of the day!

But the point is, we got a system of shelves for our kitchen, which is AWESOME because right now I hardly have any storage, and everything is sitting on the floor. Not feeling very moved in yet! I’m so excited to actually have enough room to put all my stuff! Maybe I’ll put a picture up when everything is set up… if it looks good. Crossing my fingers.

Caramel apple cupcakes with caramel whipped cream frosting.

Caramel Whipped Cream Frosting

So these caramel apple cupcakes are wonder-fall (okay sorry, that really wasn’t funny). They are made with a basic cupcake batter, but there are big chunks of caramelized apples in them! And to top it off (literally), I made some caramel whipped cream. I love buttercream, and it’s great on cupcakes, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes I just want a light whipped cream topping. This one is amazing, because it’s made with caramelized sugar! I personally like to caramelize my sugar to the point where it’s a little burnt, so it has a bit of a bitter flavor to it. Actually, I took these to my husband’s work and some of his coworkers thought it was coffee flavor! I guess it’s the bitter notes that threw them off. If you don’t like bitter, then just don’t caramelize the sugar for as long, and you’ll be a-okay.

Recipe for Caramel Apple Cupcakes

To make the caramelized apple, I threw some sugar and a little water in a small saucepan and caramelized the sugar. I added some butter and then added the apple, halved and cored, and mixed it around until the sauce penetrated it and the outside started to soften juuust a bit. I like using halves, and chopping it later, because then you have firm apple on the inside, while you still get the caramelized flavor on the outside. If you chop it up first and then caramelize it, the apple will get too soft and then they kind of just turn to mush when you bake it. I want to bite into apple chunk, not apple mush! I also decided to forgo spice in this recipe. While I like apple spice, I feel like everything is pumpkin spice or apple spice in the fall, and I wanted to make something that was just a clean caramel apple taste. But if you must have spice, feel free to add a little cinnamon and nutmeg, or whatever else you want.

P.S. I realized AFTER I took all of my pictures, that the caramelized apples I garnished with the caramel apple cupcakes kind of look like daikon radish. Oops! I’d recommend garnishing with fresh apples!

Happy baking!

Caramel apple cupcake recipe with caramel whipped cream frosting

6 thoughts on “Irresistible Caramel Apple Cupcake Recipe with Caramel Whipped Cream Frosting”

    • You could try using coconut cream, from a can of coconut milk. Just separate the thinner clear liquid from the white thick creamier portion (The creamy part is whippable like cream).

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