Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Last week I found a great looking recipe on Whole Foods' website for a Caramel Apple Layer Cake and I couldn't wait to try it! You can find it here: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2344

The recipe seemed somewhat healthy, using whole wheat pastry flour and a combination of oil and applesauce to keep the fat and calories down some (although the butter and the sugar in the icing kind of counterbalances the somewhat healthy cake part!). I also thought the caramel apple flavor sounded great for a fall treat.

I usually prefer to make cupcakes rather than layer cakes...cupcakes are much easier to transport and share, plus people are way more willing to grab a cupcake than to cut off a piece from a half-eaten layer cake! So I got out the muffin tins and started mixing up the batter.

I only had regular pastry flour in the pantry, so rather than doing a mix of whole wheat pastry flour and all-purpose flour, as the recipe calls for, I did 2 cups of regular pastry flour and 1 3/4 cups of whole wheat flour. I also shook out a teaspoon or two of flour from each cup (high altitude adjustments). I also cut back on the baking powder just a bit, which I think helped prevent the cupcake from collapsing. I typically measure out the full amount and then just shake a little bit out of the measuring device...not very technical, but it works (almost) every time!

The light brown sugar was pretty compacted, so I ended up just using regular sugar, which turned out fine. I also couldn't find any caramel dessert sauce at the co-op, so I am pretty sure I only had about 1/3 c. instead of  the 3/4 c. that the recipe called for. Everything else I did pretty much according to the recipe. The dough was a little thicker than typical cupcakes, although I've found that I prefer the thicker dough...easier to measure and scoop for more uniform-sized cupcakes.

The recipe said to bake at 350, I upped the oven temperature to 355, might not have made much of a difference, although I'm convinced that the slightly higher baking temperature also helps keep the cupcakes from collapsing. I put 18 in at a time, baking for 7 minutes, rotating, and then baking for another 8 minutes, which was about perfect.

They puffed up nicely, and none of them collapsed!

After baking. ~15 minutes was about perfect.

Although some of them did start to collapse on the second batch...I was in a bit of a rush to get them rotated, and I think the tops collapsed a bit.

Small amount of collapsing on the second batch,
probably just from rotating them a little carelessly.

I tried one before it was completely cooled and iced, and it was good, but not great, and definitely not caramel-y enough! I figured I'd work on the icing and hopefully they would be better after being iced.

The frosting called for butter, powdered sugar, and apple cider. Yum! But again, the apple cider flavor didn't quite seem to come through. I went ahead and iced the cupcakes and stuck them in the fridge a bit to set.

Letting them cool was the trick. When I tried one a few hours later, it had definitely developed more of a caramel flavor, and the apple cider started coming through even more in the icing. The cake itself was moist but not overly sweet, more of a cross between a muffin and a cupcake, probably due to the whole wheat flour. I also didn't put in quite as much sugar as it called for, so they weren't overly sweet.

Overall, I think these are a great fall cupcake recipe. I'd like to try a few modifications though. Scott suggested maybe brushing them with some sort of simple syrup or applejack liquor, and I'd also like to try coring them and putting a little bit of sauteed cinnamon apple filling inside each one, just to really reinforce the apple flavor. Yum!

Frosting turned out a bit thin, probably could have used a little more powdered sugar.
But the apple cider flavoring was delicious!