Caramel Apple Spiced Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream

Aaahhh.. The Quest continues! 

I decided earlier this year to embark on the Quest for the Perfect Cupcake. It has been a great adventure, with some classic cupcakes (Red Velvet Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting), some strange (Dr. Pepper) and some perfectly perfect (Peanut Butter Cupcakes and Turtle Cupcakes). I also tested out Pink Lemonade Cupcakes and Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting.

When I first put the quest out there I asked for some suggestions. Apple cupcakes were on the request list - and with autumn upon us, Caramel Apple Spiced Cupcakes were definitely on the menu.
I found the basis for this cupcake on Pinterest. It was set up as a cake, but turning the recipe into cupcakes was an easy fix.

I know that I really should have made my own caramel for this recipe, and in the future I probably will (using the recipe from my Turtle Cupcakes) but I just did not have time this weekend. Store bought (gasp!) caramel ice cream topping to the rescue!

Caramel Apple Spiced Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream and Toffee Bits
Adapted from The Great Cake Company
Makes 48 regular cupcakes
Caramel Apple Spiced Cupcakes

Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 tsp Apple Pie Spice (I use this one)
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, cut into 1-inch cubes, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 cups applesauce
Caramel Dessert Topping
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350F. Line your cupcakes tins for 48 cupcakes. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and apple pie spice into a large bowl.
In your mixer, beat the butter until creamy, about 4 minutes. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 more minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.

Add the flour mixture to the mixer bowl, alternating with the applesauce, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix all ingredients until well combined.

Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners and bake for 20-23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool for about ten minutes. 

Spoon about 1 tsp of caramel topping onto each cupcake. Spread around using the back of a spoon. Leave the caramel topped cupcakes to cool completely while you make the icing.
Caramel Buttercream Frosting
1 1/2 cups butter, at room temperature
8 cups icing sugar (I know, it sounds like a lot, but it's for 48 cupcakes!!)
4 tbsp milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup caramel dessert topping
Skor bits, for decoration
Cream the butter until creamy add vanilla and beat until smooth. Add icing sugar one cup at a time. The mixture will be dry, so add milk 1 tbsp at a time until icing smooths out. Add the caramel dessert topping and mix until well combined.

Using a Wilton 1M tip, swirl icing onto the top of each caramel topped cupcake. Sprinkle the iced cupcakes with Skor bits.

I brought these cupcakes in to work and they were gone!! If you make them, let me know how they turn out!!

No Bake Caramel Apple Trifle

With the chaos of our weekend, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to make all of the ingredients necessary for this dessert – which actually turned out fantastic, because I managed to make a humungous, delicious dessert without having to turn on the oven!
The original recipe calls for baking a 2 layer yellow cake from a box, but due to time constraints and general laziness, I went with purchased sponge dessert cups (the kind you use for strawberry shortcakes).
When I brought the dessert to a friends’ engagement party, I was greeted by the complaint of “oh no, I don’t eat trifle” which is usually my reply to a trifle dessert being served. Traditional trifle calls for sherry or some other kind of liqueur being soaked into the sponge, causing it to be mushy and kind of gross.

I made the nay-sayers (Natalie!!) try it out and they came out with the same answer as I did. This recipe ROCKS! On the somewhat healthy kick that I’m on right now, I wanted to make this recipe as low fat and low cal as possible. I used fat free caramel ice cream sauce, fat free cool whip and fat free pudding mix. The only “regular” calorie items are the sponge cake and the apple pie filling.

I wasn’t sure how many of the dessert cups I would need, so I bought four packages. I ended up only needing three packages (could have done it easily with two packages, but I wanted the big bowl FULL!), so I used the last package and a little bit of the caramel, cool whip, pudding and apple pie filling to make individual trifles. SO GOOD!!

Almost Empty Bowl at the End of the Party

I hope you try this recipe out, I know I definitely will be making it again! The recipe made a H.U.G.E. bowl of trifle, probably enough to feed 40-50 people. I ended up taking the little bit of leftovers home and we had it the next day, and it was still fantastic!
Caramel Apple Trifle
Adapted from here

Ingredients
3 packages of sponge dessert cups (6 in a package for $1 at Walmart!)
1 bottle of fat free caramel ice cream topping
3 packages low fat vanilla pudding mix
6 cups milk
1 tsp apple pie spice
2 cans apple pie filling
3 containers fat free cool whip
Optional: Skor bits to sprinkle on top, just for effect
Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, combine vanilla pudding mix, milk and apple pie spice. Mix according to the package directions. While that is mixing up, break up the first package of dessert sponge cups and arrange them in the bottom of a big glass bowl. You could use any type of bowl you like, but the glass bowl lets you see all the pretty layers in the recipe.

Drizzle the caramel topping all over the first layer of sponge cake. Scoop 1/3 of the pudding mixture on top of the caramel covered sponge.

Spread the pudding around so it makes a lovely gooey layer. Open the two cans of apple pie filling into a bowl. Spread 1/3 of the apple pie filling over the pudding layer. Do the same with most of a package of cool whip. You might not have to use your entire package in each layer, but I like a big thick layer of whipped topping between each cake layer.

Repeat the above two more times and sprinkle the top layer with the skor bits and a good drizzle of caramel sauce. 

I used about a handful of skor bits over the top of the entire dessert, just to pretty it up a bit.

Caramel Apple Trifle

Chocolate Trifle

If you like this recipe, you might want to try another one of my family faves – Super Amazing Totally Irresistible Chocolate Trifle. It really is that good.