Apple Cupcakes with Cinnamon-Cream Cheese Frosting
These apple cupcakes are subtly spiced, full of fresh, shredded apple and topped with a cinnamon-cream cheese frosting.
It may be 90 degrees outside, but Labor Day is behind us, which means that I have officially shifted to fall mode. Two of my favorite fall flavors are apples and cinnamon, so the combination was a no-brainer when I was trying to decide what to make for dessert this weekend. There is no subtlety here – the cupcakes are packed with fresh shredded apple and the cream cheese frosting is full of warm, fragrant cinnamon.
The apple cupcakes are incredibly moist and slightly dense – very similar to the texture of a muffin, which I love.
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I chose to do a cinnamon-cream cheese frosting because there is a chain of family restaurants in the Pittsburgh area (King’s) that serves their apple pie with cinnamon ice cream. It’s my husband’s favorite dessert there, and the first time he ordered it, I couldn’t believe that the cinnamon ice cream was PINK. Crazy! That aside, it is a fantastic combination and it was the first thing I thought of when deciding what type of frosting I wanted to use for these cupcakes. Cinnamon-cream cheese frosting was a solid choice.
The combination really makes these taste like apple pie with a huge dollop of spiced whipped cream. Which, of course, is fantastic.
I don’t care what the temperature is outside, I’m jumping on the fall train and riding it the whole way to Thanksgiving!
Five years ago: Bacon Onion Cheddar Biscuits
Apple Cupcakes with Cinnamon-Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes:
- 1¼ cups (156.25 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) ground ginger
- ¼ cup (56.75 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (60 ml) + 2 tablespoons buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1½ cups (187.5 g) shredded Gala apples, about 2 medium apples, peeled
For the Cinnamon-Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 8 ounces (226.8 g) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 2½ teaspoons (2.5 teaspoons) vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- 4 cups (480 g) powdered sugar
- 1½ teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) ground cinnamon
Special Equipment:
- Standard 12-cup muffin pan
- Decorating bags, I use Wilton disposable bags
- Decorating tip, I used Ateco #827
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger; set aside.
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter until soft and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the granulated sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl as needed. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until completely combined, about 1 minute.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in half of the flour mixture until mostly combined, then pour in the buttermilk (the mixture may begin to look curdled - that's okay), then add the remaining flour mixture, mixing until just barely combined. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and fold in the shredded apple, as well as any accumulated juices.
- Divide the batter between the 12 muffin cups and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pan and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the Frosting: With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the butter until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the cream cheese, vanilla and salt and continue to beat for an additional 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the powdered sugar gradually and mix until smooth and combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add the ground cinnamon, mix until it is incorporated, then increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Using a decorating bag and tip (I used the Ateco #827 tip) or an offset spatula, frost the tops of the cupcakes. The cupcakes can stay at room temperature for a few hours, but should be refrigerated in an airtight container for longer-term storage up to 4 days. Bring the cupcakes to room temperature before serving.
Notes
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I’ve made this recipe the times in about a week. Once to test it, once for work for Thanksgiving and the third for family. Everyone raves about the frosting. Excellent recipe! Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe! We had three small apples that were getting a bit too old to eat. I did a quick search and found your recipe. We made the cupcakes as is, but I didn’t have time to make the frosting. Instead of frosting, I made a fast glaze of confectioners sugar, maple syrup, heavy cream and vanilla extract. Let the cupcakes cool on the rack for about 15 minutes and then dunked each cupcake into the glaze, and we were on our way out the door. The cupcakes were moist, had a nice, soft cake texture, deliciously sweet apple flavor. We printed your recipe to add to our favorites book. Thank you again! Absolutely delicious!
This recipe is wrong. Need to use 1 TABLESPOON of baking powder. NOT 1 TEASPOON!
I’m already salivating, can’t wait to try this cupcake recipe. Thanks for sharing, Michelle
I baked these cupcakes last night, but when I took them out of the oven at 25 minutes, they were still white/not browned at all and just didn’t look baked. It was weird. I put them in the oven for 5 or maybe 10 minutes more, and when I took them out again, they still didn’t look brown or well-baked. It was weird. They also had barely risen; they were unappetizingly dense and not fluffy. Overly dense……….and chewy (?). Also, the bottoms were wet. I saw that this stuff happened to others in the comments. I didn’t bother to make the frosting because the cupcakes were a slight fail. All my ingredients were new though, and my oven is working fine (it is at the right temperature). I’m not writing this to slander your recipe — just hoping no one else has to go through this wasting of ingredients!!!
Definitely halve the icing recipe, I followed one persons suggestion and added about 2oz of cream cheese to batter, and used 1 apple instead of 2- PERFECTION!!! My favorite cupcake recipe possibly of all time. Moist and soft, spiced but not in-your-face. You’ll probably have to bake for 28 mins (they’ll look extra browned on top but it’s PERFECT)
dense, sticky, added extra cinnamon and still taste like flour
Made these last night. The cupcakes tasted great, but because the bottoms were still wet, I had to bake longer. And there is way too much frosting, enough to frost more than 2 batches. I’ll half it next time. But will be making these again!
I love this recipe very simple but taste really good and moist. I also added Apple Pie Spice to kick it up a notch. I only used 3 cups of powdered sugar so the frosting wouldnt be overly sweet.
How long is the frosting good for because I have extra?
The frosting will keep in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 5 days.
Friend at work made these. Best cup cake I ever put in my mouth!!! YUMMY
Sad to say, this recipe didn’t work for me. The cupcakes smelled fantastic as they baked but they were heavy as lead.
Wow wow wow!! Made these for the second time. The flavor is outstanding. The first time I made it as described in the recipe and it was fantastic. The second time I decided to add a bit of cream cheese extract with the vanilla extract when mixing the batter. Holy cow! Seriously amazing either way you make it. Highly recommend! Thank you for sharing.
Just what I was looking for! I made them as my birthday cupcakes and they tasted great! I only used half of the frosting though.
If you want the icing to have the right consistency you might have to use the suggested amount of sugar. I used 3 cups for mine. not as sweet but the icing wasnt as firm.
Just made it with my daughter and we absolutely loved it. I am a horrible baker, but for some reason we got this one down. I used 2% milk instead of the buttermilk and added an extra table spoon of butter. It worked out just fine.
I made a double batch and I think the apples being shredded caused me to add too much apple. The cupcakes were dense and not as light and fluffy as I would have liked. Still had great flavor and no one complained.
Glad I only made one batch of the icing. I still had extra after piping mounds on 26 cupcakes!
I personally try this recipe yesterday, and It’s insanely good! Super soft and super moist.
2 thumbs up and 5 stars for you! :) – Jessica, Philippines.
These were some of the best cookies I’ve ever tasted. Per another comment I added pumpkin pie spice and the pumpkin flavor was perfect. And the icing is my new go to cream cheese icing. Everyone couldn’t give enough compliments!!!
Tastes AMAZING !!! Followed recipe exactly (except adding ginger) and they are so good. This recipe does make A LOT of frosting though. I coated each cupcake in about 1 centimeter of frosting and I used less than half of all the frosting I made. So unless you like tons of frosting, I would say you can cut the frosting in half!
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!!! I LOVE apple-cinnamon cupcake and can’t wait to make these. I have made tons of your recipes and enjoyed them all. You’re great!!! Thanks again.
IS THER any Way to lighten them up a bit to make them more like cupcakes
Yes, you can add 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder to the batter.
Most excellent! I used pear instead of apple and it worked beautifully. Both the cake and the frosting were light and delicious. One of the other guests at my roommate’s going away party told me I could sell these to a restaurant, and then she said they could win a blue ribbon at a county fair haha!
Ohh!! Forgot to mention that I doubled the cake recipe but not the frosting (decided to double the cake after buying just 1 brick of cream cheese) and all was well. I swirled a quick and low layer of frosting on each cupcake instead of a high pile like Michelle, and I have some frosting leftover. :)
These were delicious! I went light on both the apple in the batter, and cinnamon in the frosting and the cupcakes still had plenty of flavor. I would absolutely make these again. My only comment is that I had so much frosting left over. I spread a generous amount on top of my first batch of cupcakes, still had so much left that I made a second batch of cupcakes, and even still have enough frosting left for another dozen. Not a bad problem to have in the grand scheme of things ;)
Baked these for my church last weekend and they got rave reviews. I doubled the recipe and used shredded Fuji and Honeycrisp apples instead of Gala. I also added an extra 1/2 cup of flour plus 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and boiled down a couple tablespoons of apple cider until concentrated and syrupy for a flavor boost. They were lovely.
What are the sizes of the cupcakes? Love the recipe idea btw~ :D
Hi Ade, They are standard size cupcakes, as you would get using a regular size muffin tin.
I think the next time I make this frosting, I’ll stop at 3 cups of powdered sugar instead of 4. As is, the sugar really overpowers the butter and cream cheese.
Cupcakes were great, I would say if you are going to make the frosting you can get away with making half the recipe, way too much for a dozen cupcakes. Also the frosting in my opinion was way too sweet.