"A" is for Caramel APPLE Crumble Cupcake

I have made the Caramel Apple Crumble Cupcake twice already and the second time it tasted way better then the first. It is easily one of my favorites that I've made to date. And judging by the reactions of a few people who ate them, they may be their favorites too! I originally saw the recipe for the Caramel Apple cupcake on the HowToEatACupcake blog and I really wanted to try it. Wanting to make it a little different I thought of how much I love Apple Crumble, so I decided to combine the 2 ideas together.

A few notes on this Cupcake:

1. The batter is REALLY thick and looked like muffin batter, so I added about 1/2 to 2/3 cup of apple juice to thin it out to get a good cupcake batter consistency.

2. I struggled with the 'caramel' for this cupcake until I came across a recipe in my Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook. The most amazing caramel recipe EVER! This goes for the Caramel Frosting as well!

3. The first time I made the cupcake, I rolled the edge of the frosting in apple "crumble". The second time I made them, the frosting was so thick that there was no way that I could do this. It's too bad, because that's how I envisioned them from the beginning. A bit of experimenting and I'll get it right!

There are 4 parts to this recipe:

1. The Caramel Apple Cupcake

2. The Caramel

3. The Caramel Frosting

4. The Crumble

Part 1: The Caramel Apple Cupcake

I found this recipe on HowToEatACupcake.com. And like I mentioned already, you will probably need to add at least 1/2 cup of apple juice to the batter. You can add more or less depending on the consistency you get/want. These smell SOOO good when they come out of the oven!

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Makes 16-18

Ingredients:

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 medium sized tart apples, peeled, cored, and chopped small (about 2 cups)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.

2. In a large bowl beat together the brown sugar, oil, cinnamon, and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium speed. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition.

3. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Beat until blended. Stir in apples. (I added the apple juice here because this is when I realized the batter was really thick.)

5. Fill the cupcake liners 1/2 to 3/4 full with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes on wire rack.

Part 2: The Caramel

This recipe is from the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook. This is a book from Australia, so it uses some terms and ingredients that are not familiar to me here in Canada. I tried to find them online, but apparently the bakery has closed down due to some VERY bad reviews. I will not go into detail, but it made me loose A LOT of interest in this book. Which is unfortunate because I love the book and there seems to be a lot of good recipes in it. Regardless, the Caramel recipe is amazing! This recipe called for "golden syrup" which is NOT corn syrup or molasses or any combo of other sweeteners. I ended up finding golden syrup at Bouchey's on Elgin Street. It's made by Lyle's. It cost $2.99 (no tax!) and is well worth it!

Real Caramel Sauce

Makes 1 cup sauce Keeps 1 month

Ingredients:
100g butter (there are about 115g in 1 stick)

2/3 cups soft brown sugar

1/4 cup golden syrup

1/2 cup cream (I used whipping cream)

Method:

1. Combine the butter, sugar, golden syrup and cream in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat.

2. Stir occasionally with a flat-bottomed wooden spoon until the sugar has dissolved.

3. Turn heat up to high and boil for at least 5 minutes.

4. Take off the heat and cool to room temperature.

**Note: Don't turn the heat up TOO high and remember to keep stirring the sauce the whole time so that it doesn't burn or scald. My mom makes something very similar to this and she recommended that I lift the pot off of the burner every once in a while as well so that it wasn't getting direct heat. To check the consistency of the caramel you can take a little spoonful and drop it on a plate and wait a few seconds. It will cool and you will know how thick it will end up. Boiling it for ~4-5 minutes will make a really thick gooey caramel that is fairly solid.

***Note 2: The caramel can also be used for other things. For instance, I made chocolate with it by filling a mold with a thin layer of chocolate, then adding the caramel and then another thin layer of chocolate on top. Delicious!

Part 3: The Caramel Frosting

The frosting uses the same recipe as the Caramel, but with added icing sugar to make it...well...frosting! The author of this recipe wrote in the book that she boiled the recipe LONGER then the caramel and THEN added the icing sugar. I have NO IDEA how she did this because you would end up with a rock solid mass of something! I boiled the caramel for a lot LESS time and still couldn't add that much sugar and still ended up with very thick frosting. This one will take some experimenting to get right, but the flavour is worth the effort! I literally blew holes in the piping bag and nearly sprained all my muscles trying to pipe this frosting!

Real Caramel Sauce Frosting
Makes 4 cups frosting

Ingredients:

100g butter (there are about 115g in 1 stick)
2/3 cup soft brown sugar
1/4 cup golden syrup
1/2 cup cream (I used whipping cream)

8 cups icing sugar (I could barely get 2 cups into the caramel before it was super thick)

Method:
1. Combine the butter, sugar, golden syrup and cream in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat.
2. Stir occasionally with a flat-bottomed wooden spoon until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Turn heat up to high and boil for at least 5 minutes.
4. Take off the heat and cool to room temperature.

5. Add half of the sifted icing sugar to the cooled caramel mixture and use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat for 3 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the remaining icing sugar and beat for a further 3 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy and of a spreadable consistency. Add extra cream if the mixture is too dry or extra icing sugar if the mixture is too wet.

**Note: I would boil the caramel for only about 1 minute and add only as much icing sugar as you can to get a spreadable consistency. Maybe next time I'll try using a lighter cream to see if it doesn't turn out as thick.

Part 4: The Crumble

The first time I made the crumble, it was AMAZING. The second time, not so much. I was having stressful day the second time and I think Murphy's Law was starting to kick in! I adapted this recipe from standard Apple Crumble recipes that actually use apples and this as a topping.

Apple Crumble

Makes enought for 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

4 teaspoons butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1-2 tsps cinnamon (I love cinnamon...don't be afraid to add a lot!)

Method:
1. Blend the butter into the brown sugar.

2. Add the flour, oats and cinnamon

3. Spread on a baking sheet in a thick layer and bake in the oven at 350F for about 20 minutes or until the mixture is a crumbly texture. Make sure you constantly mix the crumble to ensure all of the dry ingredients get coated in butter.

4. Crush with a fork to make smaller bits of crumble suitable for rolling. Or quickly pass it through a food processor.

Final Assembly

Before the Caramel has a chance to cool completely, spoon about 1 tbsp of it onto each cupcake and spread into over the top into a thick layer. For the frosting, but a dollop onto the cupcake and smooth it out over the entire cupcake until you have a flat, smooth surface with a visible edge. Roll the edge in the crumble. Top with a Green Apple flavoured jelly bean.