Applesauce Cupcakes with Caramelized Apple Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Applesauce Spice Cupcakes, topped with a Caramelized Apple Swiss Meringue Buttercream. The chunks of apple in this butter cream = pure joy to your taste buds!


Yup. It pretty much speaks for itself. Hubby went crazy over this one! Said it was his "favorite cupcake so far," which is a big statement to make, seeing as I've made a few really good ones in the past few months. =) I think he's just a sucker for the Swiss Meringue Buttercream...add apple pie filling to it and Hubby's in cupcake heaven!

This is the last installment of the Welcome Autumn: Apple Series. If you missed it, the first awesome apple recipe was Classic Apple Pie! And the second equally awesome one was French Toast topped with Caramelized Apple, Cardamom Whipped Cream, and Candied Walnuts. Be sure to check them out. And don't miss the Welcome Autumn: Pumpkin Series to follow shortly!


First, make the apple pie filling for your buttercream. It's apple caramelized in butter and delicious apple pie spices! You want to make sure to chop the apple into small cubes. I'm talking 1 cm cubes! It's going to weigh down your buttercream if you make them too big. Then you won't be able to produce the nice swirl of frosting.


When done, set aside to cool. This may take a couple of hours. You want it to be at room temperature when you mix it into the buttercream. You can put it in the fridge to speed things up, but please pay close attention to it. You don't want it to be too cold, either. It has to be at the same temp as your butter, or else you won't get the correct buttercream consistency. Trust me, you'll be SO frustrated if your buttercream is the wrong consistency. lol. Definitely speaking from experience here.. =)


Next, the cupcakes. I got this recipe from my Martha Stewart Cupcake book. It's a fragrant spice cake, made with applesauce! SO delicious! It tastes like....well, autumn! This would be a great addition to the dessert table at Thanksgiving.


Mix the wet ingredients together: butter, sugar, eggs, and of course, applesauce! It called for unsweetened applesauce, but I only had the sweetened kind. I was afraid that it would turn out too sweet, but it was great!


Fold in the dry ingredients. It included fragrant spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves!

Pretty shinny gold batter!


Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Now for the wonderful buttercream- the main attraction! Swiss Meringue Buttercream is super high maintenance, but totally worth the effort! For those of you who have never made it before, please read this post before attempting. It gives you step by step instructions that will be invaluable to you on your buttercream adventure! =)


Once your buttercream is complete, add in the apple pie filling. Mix for about 30-60 seconds until well incorporated.



You'll get this beautiful and shiny buttercream with chunks of caramelized apple! The thing that I LOVE about this buttercream is the fact that it's subtly sweet. It's not super overpowering in sugar/sweetness, like other frostings. You'll get this light, fluffy, and subtle buttercream that tastes like apple pie and has chunks of apple in every bite. Heaven.



If you use a piping bag to frost your cupcakes, make sure to use a jumbo sized, open tip one so that the apple chunks can come through.

Sprinkle with a pinch of cinnamon! =)

I love this cupcake! It tastes so gourmet. It's definitely not your run-of-the-mill cupcake. It has fantastic flavors, and the apple really comes through. Both the cake and the buttercream are subtly sweet, allowing you to really taste all the flavors of the spices and apple!

Maybe Hubby was right. I really do hate to play favorites among my cupcake creations. You know how I am about cupcakes- they're my babies! But I might have to admit that this one definitely takes the [cup]cake! =)


Note: It's super important to allow these cupcakes to warm up to room temperature before serving, should you keep them in the fridge overnight.


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