Cupcake 53 - Carmel Apple Cupcakes

When good cupcakes go bad.

I whipped up a batch of very apple cupcakes over the weekend. It took a while to peel and finely dice the apples. I got my spices just right, the pinch of cardamom was nice. The cupcakes domed perfectly when I baked them. I unwrapped 70+ caramels to get a really gooey topping for the whole caramel apple effect. This recipe took some prep time, but I was pleased overall with the outcome. I carefully packed the cupcakes to take to work, gently sealing them in a wax paper lined airtight plastic container. I pondered if caramel and airtight would play well for about ummm....10 seconds, dismissed the thought, sealed the container and checked out what we had backlogged on TiVo. I opened the container this morning to insert my cute wooden sticks to further simulate the caramel apple effect to find caramel soup with cupcake croutons floating in the middle. Lesson learned: caramel prefers aluminum foil.

Take note of the before and after pictures, they were cute, don't you think?

Cupcakes

3 c AP flour
2 t baking soda
2 t cinnamon
1 t ginger
1/4 t cardamom

1/4 t allspice
1/2 t fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 t cloves
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 c chopped apples
1 c light brown sugar
1/4 c granulated sugar

1/4 c raw sugar
8 T unsalted butter, melted
1/2 c sour cream

3 T apple cider
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking soda, spices and salt, set aside.
In second bowl, wisk sugars, butter, sour cream and eggs. Add apples and mix well. Add dry ingredients and stir until combined. Fill wells of 24 lined cupcake pans 2/3 full, you want these to dome. Bake 16 to 22 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Topping

70 caramel cubes

3 T heavy cream

Melt carmels in saucepan over low heat, stirring often. Add cream and stir until smooth. Allow to cool for 2 minutes. Quickly spread the tops of each cupcake with about 2 teaspoons of the caramel mixture.