Apple Butter Buttercream Cupcakes
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Apple Butter Buttercream Cupcakes are one of the best apple recipes to make for a fall dessert. A simple cinnamon cupcake with apple butter creamed into the buttercream for a classic fall flavor.
I have a simple recipe for you today. Simple, but possibly my favorite of our apple butter recipes that we tried.
I am a sucker for buttercream. If you’ve been following us for any amount of time, it’s really no secret. Maddie is picky about her buttercream, but I love buttercream of any kind.
I knew I had to try adding our homemade apple butter into my favorite buttercream recipe, and I’m so glad I did.
Why you’ll love this recipe:
- tangy, but light taste of apples that combines with the sweet buttercream
- piles of buttercream that sit upon the simple cinnamon cupcake
- easy recipe that is perfect for beginning bakers
- start with a box cake mix with added pudding mix so they are unbelievably moist.
Apple Butter vs Applesauce
This recipe calls for apple butter, not applesauce. Apple butter is cooked longer than applesauce which creates an extra thick “butter” with intense apple flavor. It’s like jelly or jam.
You’ll definitely want to use apple butter. You can either make your own apple butter or buy it at the store.
How to Make Apple Butter Buttercream Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease or line 24 muffin cups with paper baking cups. Set aside.
- Beat cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil, eggs, cinnamon and vanilla in bowl of electric mixer on low speed just to moisten, scraping sides as needed. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes.
- Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full. Use an ice cream scoop to transfer the batter easily.
- Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely.
Secret to Delicious Buttercream Frosting
One of our secrets to making amazing buttercream is to whip the butter by itself for several minutes until it becomes almost white. Then you’ll add in your other ingredients and whip them together until they become a fluffy, light frosting.
This apple butter buttercream will melt in your mouth. And this is a fall recipe that even the pickiest eaters will like, since it is so simple and basic.
How to Pipe a Cupcake Swirl
Frosting cupcakes is fun to do, but takes some practice. If you have piping bags and tips, use large tips for frosting cupcakes. Wilton 1M or 2D work great. If you don’t have any, you can use plastic baggies and cut a small hole in the corner.
Apple Butter Buttercream Cupcakes
These Apple Butter Buttercream Cupcakes are a simple cinnamon cupcake with apple butter creamed into the buttercream for a classic fall flavor.
Servings 24
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 package yellow cake mix 15.25 ounces
- 3.4 ounces vanilla instant pudding mix 4-serving size
- 1 cup 2% milk
- 1/2 cup canola oil or vegetable oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Apple Butter Buttercream:
- 1 cup salted butter room temperature (8 ounces)
- 2 3/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup apple butter
Instructions
Make the cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease or line 24 muffin cups with paper baking cups. Set aside.
- Beat cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil, eggs, cinnamon and vanilla in bowl of electric mixer on low speed just to moisten, scraping sides as needed. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes.
- Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full. Use an ice cream scoop to transfer the batter easily.
- Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely.
Make the buttercream:
- Beat 1 cup (2 sticks) of room temperature butter in large bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed until light, fluffy, and almost white in appearance.
- Add the apple butter and mix well.
- Then add in the 2 cups powdered sugar. Beat until well blended. Add more powdered sugar to stiffen the buttercream, or a bit of milk to make the buttercream more spreadable.
- Frost the cupcakes using a knife, or decorate with an icing bag and tip (Wilton tip 1M) to make a pretty swirl.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
The calories shown are based on the recipe making 24 cupcakes, with 1 serving being 1 frosted cupcake. Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the calories shown are just an estimate. **We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information. The information in the nutrition box are calculated through a program and there is room for error. If you need an accurate count, I recommend running the ingredients through your favorite nutrition calculator.**
Nutrition
Calories: 277kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 52mg | Sodium: 266mg | Potassium: 39mg | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 300IU | Calcium: 67mg | Iron: 0.6mg
Apple Recipes You’ll Love
During apple season, you might find you want a new apple recipe to enjoy. Here’s a few we love!
The cake part was simple enough although it did not have enough cinnamon so I included more, The actual frosting though was a problem, apple butter does not have a strong enough apple flavor for the buttercream making it taste to much like the actual butter. This can be fixed by using an apple extract or like what I did which was spicing it up with cinnamon cloves and a bit of lime juice for acidity. It also helps to make an apple pie filling for the inside which gives it more apple flavor which the cupcakes would not have… Read more »
I tried this recipe last weekend for my guests & they loved it. Thanks for sharing it.
Loved the recipe and added a little more (1/4 cup) of cinnamon apple butter to the frosting Everyone at our luncheon LOVED them!!!