Spiced Caramel Apple Cupcakes

OMG. These are heavenly! I've never been big into spice cake, although spice cake makes the hubby's heart go pitter-patter. But when you take spice cake, and combine it with apple and plenty o' caramel? Dino-MITE! These are soft and moist cupcakes, with bits of apple throughout and a subtle caramel flavor. However, it's the caramel frosting that really takes the cake out of this world, though.

Confession time? I don't really like... frosting. Oh yes, I went there. For me, there's never been anything appealing about a huge mouthful of butter and sugar. Especially if the frosting in question hasn't been beaten within an inch of its life. Through trial and error, I've learned that you just have to beat the frosting. Profusely. Like, a couple of minutes longer than you think you should. The result is frosting that is light as air, and isn't grainy with unincorporated sugar. These tips created one of the best frostings I've made. Of course, it is caramel frosting, so how can you go wrong there?

The fall here in Kentucky has been spectacular this year. The temperature is gradually creeping towards fall weather, which means the humidity slowly left and we are still getting sunny afternoons. The leafs are slowly changing color and beginning to accumulate in the yard. These changes have sent me into fall overdrive, and all I want to do is create concoctions of apple, pumpkin, and parsnip. I've really been craving something pumpkin, so expect to see some pumpkin recipes popping up ASAP!

I think cookies are going to be first :)

Ingredients:

Cake-
1 box- spice cake mix
3/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup caramel topping
1 granny smith apple, peeled and grated
2 egg whites
1 egg yolk

Frosting-
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1/8 cup caramel topping
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk

-more caramel topping (for topping)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Line 2 cupcake pans with liners.
2. In a large bowl, beat together cake mix through egg yolk. Beat until well blended. Divide batter among cupcake tins. Bake in preheated oven 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in tins 10 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.
3. While muffins are cooling, prepare frosting. In a separate large bowl, beat butter and sugar until well combined, 2-3 minutes. Add caramel topping, vanilla, and milk. Beat mixture until you reach your desired consistency.
4. Decorate cupcakes with frosting. Using a spoon, drizzle a tiny amount of caramel over the frosted cupcake. Caramel topping will harden completely within a couple of hours.
5. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from You Made That?