APPLE CIDER CUPCAKES WITH APPLE CIDER BUTTERCREAM & SALTED CARAMEL FILLING

So, last week I was down to surprise a friend seeing as it was his 18th birthday and he was always a huge fan of alcohol and with that in mind, and with a lot of apple cider in the fridge, these cupcakes were born. I usually do not make them in huge batches because I don’t have that many people to feed but I mean seeing as it’s for his birthday, and there will be people around, I made about 50 of these and 50 double chocolate cupcakes (recipe up soon!).

I would actually love to get more of that cider taste as it got lost in the batter, so if anyone knows any tricks to quench that alcoholic thirst in me, do share! So here it is:

This yielded about 48-50 mini cupcakes.

Apple Cider Cupcakes: (Adapted from Something Swanky)
2 eggs

1 2/3 cups AP flour

1 cup apple cider

2/3 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1. Whisk together all ingredients.
2. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake at 175º until cake is springy and toothpick comes out clean when instrted.

How easy is that??????

Apple Cider Buttercream: (adapted from Fox11)
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter

1/4 cup apple cider

4 cups powdered sugar

1. Beat butter and apple cider with electric mixer at low speed until well blended. Gradually beat in the icing sugar until desired consistency is reached. Alternate with apple cider to get desired consistency. (Too stiff? Add cider. Too watery? Add icing sugar! Simple!)

So then, seeing as I needed to make prank cupcakes, I cored a few cupcakes and I decided to take the rest of my cupcakes up a notch and filled it with salted caramel. However, my caramel filling was a little wet and it got soaked by the cake but it gave a really nice sweet/salty taste! I didn’t really like it but people seemed to enjoy it, I would prefer it to be thicker and chewier tho!

Salted caramel filling:(adapted from Cakejournal)
Adjust the quantity to suit your batch! I halved this recipe for about 40 cupcakes?

1 stick butter, melted

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Add the butter, brown sugar and milk to a small saucepan.

2. Heat until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves, about 3-5 minutes over medium heat.

3. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

4. Allow to cool slightly and it will start to thicken. Spoon it into the cupcake holes

Enjoy!

– Yun