Caramel Apple Cupcakes
This weekend, I made Caramel Apple Cupcakes. These are a little more time consuming and require a little more time and planning. None of the parts are in any way difficult, but you will need to plan a little to ensure they come together when you want them. I made the caramel sauce in the morning. It took about 15 minutes total and was incredibly easy to make. I set that aside and did a few other things around the house. Later, I peeled the apples and tossed them with the lemon juice, a little sugar and some cinnamon. This stopped the apples from turning brown and also encouraged a little juiciness! The cake batter itself is very quick to come together. Once the cakes had been baked, my husband could not hold out any longer. The smell as they were baking was just a perfume designed to sell homes. Unbelievable. He said the cake tasted like the best apple muffin he had ever tasted and he wasn't sure it could be improved upon with frosting! He was wrong! The frosting is a buttercream frosting that is made sublime by the addition of the caramel we made earlier. Sweet Jesus, that frosting is the stuff of dreams!
For me the hardest part of the whole endeavor was the application of the frosting. I am pretty darn good with a pastry bag and a frosting tip but the method described in the book required using an ice cream scoop and placing a mound on the top of each cake. Then with a little offset spatula, you would slowly spread the mound of frosting out towards the edge, making a domed apple-esque shape on the cake. This took a little practice but I think I finally got something approaching the idea! Then I dipped the edge of the cake into a bowl of chopped pecans. I also ordered a few of the wafer paper leaves that are used at Trophy. I found mine at Sugarcraft which meant I could order a somewhat smaller quantity than the source listed in the book. A pretzel rod made for a pretty stem and after a few swirls of some caramel, the cakes were complete!
Oh, side note. The sources and source guide in the book are outstanding. There is nothing in the book that is not available for us and they have done a fantastic job of leading us in the right direction for each product or ingredient!
Back to the cupcakes. Again, this made far more than the two dozen listed but just like the Espresso Cupcakes from last week, there was no problem giving them away. My husband and his band of merry coworkers dubbed them Outstanding and best in show!
For me the hardest part of the whole endeavor was the application of the frosting. I am pretty darn good with a pastry bag and a frosting tip but the method described in the book required using an ice cream scoop and placing a mound on the top of each cake. Then with a little offset spatula, you would slowly spread the mound of frosting out towards the edge, making a domed apple-esque shape on the cake. This took a little practice but I think I finally got something approaching the idea! Then I dipped the edge of the cake into a bowl of chopped pecans. I also ordered a few of the wafer paper leaves that are used at Trophy. I found mine at Sugarcraft which meant I could order a somewhat smaller quantity than the source listed in the book. A pretzel rod made for a pretty stem and after a few swirls of some caramel, the cakes were complete!
Oh, side note. The sources and source guide in the book are outstanding. There is nothing in the book that is not available for us and they have done a fantastic job of leading us in the right direction for each product or ingredient!
Back to the cupcakes. Again, this made far more than the two dozen listed but just like the Espresso Cupcakes from last week, there was no problem giving them away. My husband and his band of merry coworkers dubbed them Outstanding and best in show!
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