Easy Apple Cupcakes
on Aug 17, 2021
Easy Apple Cupcakes are made simply with boxed cake mix. Topped with caramel frosting, these cakes always come out moist, tasty, and perfect!
We love using boxed cake mix to make all sorts of delicious cakes and cupcakes! For our other favorite apple cupcake recipes, check out Apple Pie Cupcakes and Caramel Apple Cupcakes.
Easy Apple Cupcakes
With fall coming up, we’re eager to warm the oven back up for all the different desserts the season has in store for us. One of the best parts of the fall season has been baking for me: there’s something amazing about the kitchen filling up with the smells of baked apples and spices! We’re already excited over here in our house and we’re getting started on a few new recipes of our own. Today, we’re keeping things simple with this recipe for Easy Apple Cupcakes!
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Apple Cake and Apple Cupcakes are always a big hit during the autumn and we used some boxed cake mix hacks to keep our recipe nice and easy. The big change with our Apple Cupcakes Recipe is the addition of apple pie filling: using apple pie filling adds in little apple bites to your cupcakes while also adding plenty of moisture. Add a little bit of vanilla extract and you’ve got a perfect cupcake that’s moist and delicious!
We topped ours with some homemade buttercream caramel frosting- it helps these taste like some Caramel Apple Cupcakes! We’re certain you folks are going to love this recipe: it’s so quick and easy. Make these for yourself or serve them up at your next party or get-together to get folks into that fall mood!
Enjoyed this recipe? Try other easy apple desserts!
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Making cake from scratch isn’t all that hard- just look at our Apple Cake recipe! It’s as simple as mixing the wet ingredients with the dry stuff: add in some diced apples to keep things sweet and moist and you’ve got an amazing cake. Tastes even better with the delicious caramel glaze we’ve included in the recipe- it’s the perfect fall or Thanksgiving Dessert!
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If you’d rather not make a cake from scratch, you could always go with our 3 Ingredient Apple Cake. This is another clever recipe where we hack cake mix to make our cake taste even better- and with less ingredients too! When your cake’s done, consider topping it with the included Brown Sugar Cinnamon Frosting recipe: it’s the perfect combo.
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Of course, you could always stick to the classics like our Apple Cobbler recipe! This has always been one of our favorite fall desserts, and for good reason: it’s so warm, sweet, and comforting. Tastes great on its own but only gets better topped with a scoop of ice cream!
Ingredients for Cake Mix Cupcakes
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Boxed Cake Mix – For these apple-flavored cupcakes, we find spice cake mix tastes the best. For this recipe, we used the Duncan Hines Spice Cake Mix.
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Eggs
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Vegetable Oil
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Apple Pie Filling – You can go with store-bought or use some Homemade Apple Pie Filling if you have any on hand!
- Vanilla Extract
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Butter – Let this soften before using it.
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Powdered Sugar
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Caramel Topping – You could use a caramel ice cream topping or something like a caramel syrup.
How to make Apple Cupcakes
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Prepare the cake mix following the manufacturer’s instructions, not adding water and adding in apple pie filling. Add to lined cupcake tins and bake according to the instructions on the box.
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While cupcakes bake, prepare a buttercream frosting using softened butter and powdered sugar. Mix caramel topping into finished frosting.
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Allow cupcakes to cool completely before topping with buttercream caramel frosting.
To a bowl, add your cake mix, eggs, and vegetable oil. Beat together with a hand or stand mixer until combined. Off on the side, chop the pie filling so the pieces are more bite-sized.
Once that batter starts coming together, add in the apple pie filling- it’s moist enough that we don’t need to add water to the batter. Feel free to add in some vanilla extract here as well and mix for a minute or two.
Add the prepared batter to lined cupcake tins and bake according to the box instructions. For us, that was 16-19 minutes at 350 degrees.
While those bake, start on the frosting. First, cream together the softened butter and powdered sugar.
This will form a basic buttercream frosting, to which we’ll add some caramel topping. Mix until fully combined.
Around this time, your cupcakes should be close to done. When they finish baking, pull them from the oven and allow them to cool completely before topping with your caramel frosting.
We think these look great with some sort of garnish. Go with an apple slice or one of these little soft caramels. Enjoy!
How long are cupcakes good for?
These Apple Cupcakes will taste best if you eat them as soon as they’re finished. Kept in an airtight container at room temperature, they’ll stay good for 1-2 days. Your best bet is going to be to keep them in the fridge- there, they’ll last about a week.
Easy Apple Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 1 box Spice Cake Mix
- 3 Eggs
- 1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
- 21 oz Apple Pie Filling
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Butter , softened
- 4 cup Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 cup Caramel Topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Line cupcake pans with paper liners. Set aside.
- Use a knife to chop apple fie filling into smaller pieces.
- Mix cake mix, eggs, oil and vanilla until blended,
- Add in the pie filling and beat until incorporated.
- Pour batter into prepared cupcake pans.
- Bake for 16-19 minutes until toothpick iserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool on wire rack.
- Beat butter and powdered sugar to make buttercream frosting.
- Add caramel topping and continue beating until blended.
- Use a piping bag to frost cooled cupcakes.
Nutrition
These look absolutely amazing! Pinned.
Oh my! Looks delicious! I’m always up for easy recipes, thanks for sharing!