Apple Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting

Man have I got a treat for you! I know I keep saying, "Best cupcake yet!" But seriously, best cupcake yet! As you already know I am a fan of apple! Anything apple! This combination of the apple cupcake and brown sugar frosting is AMAZING! This cupcake is dense but sooo moist!

I am still trying to use up all of these apples my mom brought! I made one batch of these yesterday (13 cupcakes), and I loved them so much I made a second batch of them at 10:00 last night to share with my coworkers. I also made enough to take to my Dad's office for them to try. I have to admit, I am pretty proud of this cupcake! Try it, I promise you will love it!


The recipe for apple cupcakes is adapted from rachaelraymag.com and it called for a caramel icing, but the reviews for the caramel icing scared me a little so I went with a brown sugar icing. Perfect marriage of flavors! I love Rachael Ray, and have purchased most of her '30 minute meals' cookbooks, and for that she is a saint! But I have an all new respect for her after trying this recipe! I cannot express my overwhelming excitement to share it with you!

My boyfriend loved these! He prefers his without icing though, and the cupcake is good enough to stand alone! It really doesn't need icing. Leave the icing off and you have a perfect breakfast food, or if you're like me...add the icing and you have the perfect breakfast food! Cupcakes for breakfast...what a concept!

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 Rome apples peeled and shredded ( I used 3 granny smith apples)
*Shredding the apples helps to keep the cake moist.*

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tin with paper liners
2. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon
3. In a separate bowl whisk together eggs, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth
4. Add oil and vanilla to the egg mixture and whisk until smooth
5. Whisk the flour mixture into the egg mixture until just combined
6. Fold in the shredded apples
7. Spoon batter into the cupcake wells until wells are almost full
8. Bake 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
9. Cool before icing
10. ENJOY!!!



Brown Sugar Icing recipe: (Adapted from cupcakeproject.com)
1 stick butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 cups confectioners sugar

1. Melt butter in a sauce pan
2. Add brown sugar
3. Bring to a boil, lower heat to medium low, and continue to boil for 2 minutes stirring constantly
4. Add the milk and return to a boil, stirring constantly
5. Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm
6. Add confectioner's sugar (Sift sugar to ensure that frosting will be extra smooth)
7. Beat until thick enough to spread. If icing is too thick, then add a little bit of hot water

I went to my new favorite place this weekend, the Wine and Cake Store in Norfolk. I also visited Ben Franklins and Michaels to stock up on some baking necessities. I found some fun candy molds that I thought would be great to decorate my desserts with. The shell candy molds I purchased at Ben Franklins and are made my Wilton. I used Wilton Candy Melts, chocolate and vanilla, to make these little candy sea shells. I garnished the cupcake with brown sugar. Cute right???