The moment I saw these cupcakes I knew I HAD to make them. Unfortunately, I have this feeling about almost every cupcake recipe I see (not to mention all other desserts). I am saving recipes at an alarming rate, but thankfully, I have a wonderful outlet for my baking – the teachers’ lounge at Ben’s school! I can bake my little heart out, sample the results, and send the rest to school with Ben. He always returns at the end of the day with an empty container. Works for me! Because of the astounding number of dessert recipes I have saved, I have made a resolution to bake at least one thing per week to send to school with him so I can start making some progress with this mountain of recipes.
These cupcakes may seem somewhat complicated or involved, but I was actually surprised how quickly they came together. I have never made a cupcake using the cone method before, so I was glad to have the opportunity to try that technique. For anyone who isn’t familiar, it is exactly what it sounds like – use a paring knife and cut a cone shape out of the top of your cupcake to leave room for filling. In this case I wanted an open-faced cupcake so I discarded the tops (okay, so we ate a few – you would too!) I loved these because it was a great compromise between Ben’s favorite dessert, apple pie, and my love for cupcakes. You can’t beat the cuteness factor either! Make these for a fall get-together, they are sure to be a hit!
Apple Pie Cupcakes
Yield: 24 cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
3 cups sifted cake flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup milk
For the apple filling:
2 tbsp. butter
2 tsp. cinnamon
2-3 tbsp. sugar
3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
For decorating:
vanilla buttercream (I used 3/4 of a batch)
Directions:
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350°. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and mix well to combine. Add in the dry ingredients alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.
Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake liners, filling them about 2/3-3/4 full. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 to 22 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pans. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
To make the apple filling, heat the butter a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cinnamon and sugar and cook for a minute, until the mixture begins to bubble. Lower the heat to medium and stir in the apples. Mix well. Cook until the apples are somewhat tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
While the apple mixture is cooling, use the cone method to remove a chunk from the center of each cupcake, making sure to leave a rim around the top of the cupcake. Fill the holes with the cooled apple mixture. To decorate, top each cupcake with a swirl of vanilla buttercream.
Source: adapted from Fatty Fat Fats
These are adorable! And so much easier than apple pie. What a great compromise dessert!
These look so cute! I admire your goal to bake once a week – I’d totally do that if I had somewhere to send the baked goods. I work in a small office with only 4 people though and my husband works for the state they can only bring in packaged stuff for health reasons or something. Ugh. So I try to not bake because otherwise we have to eat it all! I’ll live vicariously through your blog
These look wonderful! Yum!
How fun! These are super cute!
Oh my god, Annie. You just made my week.
I LOVE apple pie, but I hate making pies.
And I LOVE making cupcakes! Finally — a solution! woohoo!
Those look delicious and such a creative presentation!
Oh my gosh these are so cute! I also have a problem with saving WAY more recipes than I could possibly make. I don’t even really like sweets but I have been wanting to bake more and more lately… my coworkers will really start to love me
These look so cute and delicious! I’m sure your husband’s coworkers love the treats. I’m a teacher and it’s nice to be able to bring goodies to school for others to enjoy, since, like you, I bake way more than we can eat!
These are so adorable! I will be making these this fall for sure.
ok seriously, you’re killin me with all the deliciousness you’ve been making lately. i don’t have enough time to catch up on all these recipes!
What a GREAT idea to put the apples into the cupcake like that. It looks SOOOOO good!!!!
Those are completely adorable! I am also saving recipes at such a fast rate that I don’t think I’ll ever get through them all… and right now, everyone’s making these delicious apple recipes which is making my list even longer!!
These are so cute! Next time, you should have the tops and make apple cinnamon cake balls using Bakerella’s red velvet cake ball recipe!
Wow, these look great!
These are so adorable(and sound delicious too)! I will be adding this to my growing list of ‘must try’ recipes for sure!
oh my gosh! those cupcakes are so adorable! must have been delicious!
I’m totally making these…
They look yummy! I bet that they were as good as they look.
This is a nice spin from a regular cupcake.
omg, these look absolutely awesome! I can’t wait to try them (minus the cinnamon, of course!
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Can’t wait to make these!! Thanks!
I totally know what you mean about making every dessert recipe you come across. Fortunately I’m student teaching right now and can unload everything in the staff room too!
Those look so cute and really good!
I nominated your blog for the E for Excellent Award. You can check out my blog for details.
DAMN are these cute!! How fun and festive. This is great!!
Cute, Annie!
ooh those look really good… and I’ve been intrigued by the cone method for a long while (like maybe 3 yrs or so) but never moved enough by any of the fillings I saw it used with to bother trying it… I may have to try these though… and such a perfact fall treat too…
I made these today, they are fantastic, I filled 6 with apple and 6 with blueberry. And that frosting recipe is the BEST I have ever made. I could hardly control myself with the batter. GREAT RECIPE!!!!
I just made these over the weekend. They were/are so delicious! I’m eating one now! Thanks for the great recipe.
[...] showed me this recipeon Friday. I thought YUMMMMY and thought it didn’t look too difficult. So I decided to attempt [...]
Adorable! I can hardly wait to make these!
yes! this is perfect! i’m going apple picking on saturday and wanted to make an appley treat. how cute!
Ohh yum! These look fantastic
These look so delicious and cute too.
those are adorable! i love anything w/apples
[...] apple pie cupcakes [from annie's eats] [...]
[...] Source: Adapted from Annie’s Eats [...]
just to let you know, i made these cupcakes and they were very well received. thanks so much!
here is my post about it, with pictures: http://mysweetestday.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/im-sensing-a-theme-here/
[...] Bosses Day, I made Apple Pie Cupcakes (again) for my work and Peanut Butter Nutella Brownies for David’s work. They were all a big [...]
[...] decided on doing basic vanilla and chocolate cupcakes, and making a variety of frostings. We used this cupcake recipe, minus the apple pie filling, and this chocolate cupcake recipe, minus the filling. We also made [...]
I made these too! I loved them. They were so good! thanks.
Your pictures are always so tasteful. My mouth waters every single day before I even see the recipe! Thank you for building and frequently updating this site – I love it!
when i saw this post, i knew i HAD to make these. they were just as delicious as they looked, what a great idea
These are BEAUTIFUL! I love cupcakes and like you, I always fall in love with cupcake recipes and I have to make them. This one looks like true cupcakey love. Yum!
Wow, I think I need to make these tonight. Great recipe!
What a nice apple pie alternative.
One of these and a coffee would make my day.
Hi Annie, these look wonderful. I was wondering if they would turn out okay if I used Jonagold apples instead? Thank you
Yes, you can use any apples you want.
Hi Annie! I brought these to a BBQ tonight and they were a big hit! Great recipe…. thanks! I ran out of apple filling with about 6 cupcakes left. I wasn’t sure if my apples were too small (they looked pretty big though) of if my ‘cones were too deep. Either way…. they tasted great and I’ll just use 4 apples next time.
Hi CB,
Glad you enjoyed them. I think for these cupcakes I tend to go with a wide, shallow cone so the filling is really visible at the top of the cupcake and people know what it is. Sorry you were short on the filling, but glad they were a hit!
Wow, these look amazing! I’m planning ahead for a World Cup party and would love to use these as my “Dutch” dessert (as in, Dutch apple pie cupcakes – maybe a reach, but the deliciousness should quiet any skepticism!). I just have one question about the recipe – when you say 3 cups sifted cake flour in the ingredients list, do you mean to sift cake flour so you get three cups, and then sift it again as per the first step of the recipe? Or is it three cups cake flour, then you sift it?
Thanks so much! I’m really looking forward to making these – it’ll be my first attempt at an Annie’s Eats cupcake. I’m always amazed how, when I google some obscure cupcake, your site is nearly always the first result!
Julie,
I think the way the recipe was written, you would sift first, then measure. That said, I always measure first, then sift, and have never had these fail. Enjoy!
hi annie! i want to make these for a competition at my office for the “most creative” dessert. i am a little confused on how to make the cone – do i just cut it out with a sharp knife? also, if i make them the night before will it be okay or will they get soggy? Thanks so much.
Yes, use a paring knife. Filling the night before is fine.