Readers, I realised this week that I’d failed miserably with
baking anything sweet of recent. Blame
the health kick, or the January blues, whatever…
Anyway, we were off to a housewarming last weekend. Usually we’d take copious amounts of alcohol
(sorry Mum) but this time, requests were made to take something baked along.
I discovered caramel apple in Florida last year. These are not the healthiest (the apple might
be, the sauce, not so much). I fell in
love with the sticky, sweet, gooey caramel sauce, teamed with crunchy
apple. So I’ve attempted to recreate it
in a cupcake.
This recipe came about by chance. I found an unopened packet
of Sugar and Crumbs Green Apple Icing sugar in the cupboard, had a half jar of
salted caramel sauce in the fridge and boom… it came together.
The cakes were demolished by a group of cash starved, mortgage
ridden 20-somethings and there’s been requests for more!
Caramel Apple Cupcakes
Ingredients - makes 12 large cupcakes
175g self raising flour
175g butter
4 large eggs
150g caster sugar
Heaped teaspoon caramel sauce
Frosting
125g Sugar and Crumbs Green Apple Icing Sugar
200g icing sugar
125g unsalted butter
Caramel sauce to decorate
Method
- Preheat the oven to 190c/170c fan/Gas 6
- Cream the butter and sugar together using an electric mixer.
- Add the eggs one at a time and add a teaspoon of flour to prevent curdling with each addition. Mix each egg fully before adding the next.
- Once all eggs are added, mix in
the flour. Add the caramel sauce and mix
with the electric mixer.
Batter will be a bit darker than usual - Spoon into cupcake cases and fill to around ¾ full.
- Bake in the oven for around 17-18 minutes until baked. Insert a skewer and check it’s clean on removal. If so, it’s ready.
- Cool on a wire rack.
Topping
- Soften the butter and mix up with an electric mixer until smooth and the colour lightens.
- Add the green apple icing sugar a bit at a time until mixed in and top up with the plain icing sugar, continue to mix until smooth. If it’s too thick, add a spot of milk and mix through.
- Add a touch of green food
colouring and mix through frosting, until it’s a pale green colour.
Ready for the piping bag - Transfer to a piping bag (top tip
– place the bag and nozzle in a pint bag and fill it this way).
Filling a piping bag the easy way! - Pipe green swirls on the top of each cake.
- Add a heaped dessert spoon of caramel sauce to a cup and warm through in the microwave for 10 seconds, to loosen.
- Drizzle caramel sauce on top of each cake and serve.