Apple Pie Cupcakes

5 from 15 votes

These Apple pie cupcakes are so delicious and so easy to make that you might just skip making Apple pie. The recipe features a brown sugar cupcake base that is enhanced with Fall spices, an apple pie filling, and a delicate whipped mascarpone frosting!

Prep Time30

Cook Time25

Total Time55

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 327kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

Cinnamon Cupcakes

113 Unsalted butter at room temperature
100 g Granulated sugar
50 g Brown sugar
2 Egg at room temperature
½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
120 g Whole milk at room temperature
185 g All purpose flour
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
½ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Baking powder
½ teaspoon White vinegar
½ teaspoon Baking soda

Apple pie filling

330 g Apple measured after peeled, cut into small pieces
½ teaspoon Lemon juice freshly squeezed
50 g Brown sugar
30 g Unsalted butter
1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Frosting

150 g Mascarpone high fat, use it cold
120 g Heavy cream 36% fat, use it very cold
40 g Powdered sugar shifted
½ teaspoon Vanilla extract

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Cinnamon Cupcakes

Prepare your cupcake tin by lining it with muffin liners and preheat your oven to 175℃ / 350℉ (no fan).
In a large bowl, cream the room-temperature butter and sugar for a few minutes until it's light and fluffy, then whip in the room temperature eggs one by one, and finally mix in the vanilla extract.
Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. This is your dry ingredients. Reduce the mixer speed to low speed and add the dry ingredients in thirds alternating with the room temperature milk. Do not overmix the batter at this point.
In a small bowl, mix vinegar with the baking soda. It will be super bubbly. Then, immediately fold the vinegar mixture into the batter just until it's combined.
Pipe or spoon the batter evenly into the cavities of your cupcake tin, filling each one about ¾ full.
Bake the cupcake for about 20-22 minutes at 175℃ / 350℉ or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Do not overbake them, as they can dry out. Cool the baked cupcakes on a cooling rack. They must be at room temperature before frosting.

Apple pie filling

Cut apples into small pieces. Whether to peel it or not, is your choice. Sprinkle with lemon juice so it won´t be browning.
In a saucepan, mix the apples with the rest of the ingredients (cinnamon, sugar, butter) and cook it for about 5-10 minutes. Let it come to room temp before using it.
You will want to save some thickened juice (apple caramel) for decorating the cupcakes before serving.

Frosting

Place the mascarpone into a mixing bowl. Add very cold heavy cream to the bowl along with sifted powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Whip it up with an electric hand mixer. When the frosting reaches a fluffy (after 2-3 minutes), pipeable consistency, stop right there and do not overmix. If you continue beating the frosting, it will separate and get runny.

Assembling

Once cupcakes are cooled to room temperature, make a small hole in each of them, and fill them with the apple pie filling (approx. one tablespoon per cupcake).
Pipe mascarpone frosting on each cupcake, I am using Wilton 1M piping nozzle tip. Then, spoon more apple pie filling in the middle of the frosting.
If you have any leftover pie dough, optionally make some leaf decorations. Either cut the leaf pattern by hand using a sharp knife or use Leaf Cookie Cutter.
Serve the cupcakes fresh. Any leftovers can be stored covered and refrigerated for 1-2 days.

Notes

Ingredient notes:

Measure your ingredients with a Digital scale for accuracy
All cupcake ingredients must be at room temperature to properly emulsify: eggs, butter, and milk.
Use good quality high fat (82%) butter for making buttercream and cupcakes.
For the frosting, the heavy cream and the mascarpone need to be high in fat. Using the low-fat version may result in a thinner frosting since it contains more water.

Technique notes:

The baking soda and vinegar mixture is my signature baking hack for making cupcakes super moist and fluffy, do not skip it.
Baking these cupcakes takes 22 minutes in my oven. However, you should focus on the texture, not the time. Apply the toothpick test (it should come out clean) to avoid overbaked cupcakes. Do not overbake them, as that will result in a dry texture.
The mascarpone frosting is very easy to overwhip. When whipping the frosting, stop as soon as the mixture reaches a fluffy consistency (will take 2-3 minutes). It won´t get stiffer after this point, in fact, if you overbeat it, it will only get runnier, and then it will break.

Nutrition