These brown butter apple cider cupcakes are super moist and full of flavor from the fall spices and apple cider! Topped with brown butter cream cheese frosting and garnished with sliced apples, they taste like fall with every bite!
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Why You'll Love These Spiced Apple Cupcakes!
Growing up in western NC, we were surrounded by apple orchards and there was an "apple festival" every fall right near my house. I loved going to get fresh apples and homemade apple cider. So to me, nothing says autumn has arrived quite like these spiced apple cider cupcakes!
- Rich brown butter flavor in the cake and the frosting
- Moist apple cider cupcake base
- Simple but show stopping dessert for fall
You might also like these chai spiced cupcakes these apple cider donuts!
Ingredient Notes
You only need a few ingredients to make these brown butter spiced apple cupcakes!
Cake Flour - I always use cake flour in my cupcakes because it makes them super soft and tender, but all purpose flour also works great!
Brown Butter - My favorite ingredient of all time is brown butter!! Brown butter is just unsalted butter that has been melted and gently cooked to bring out a toasty, nutty flavor. If you've never made brown butter before, you can check out this post with all my tips for how to make brown butter!
Apple Cider - Not to be confused with apple juice, apple cider is way more flavorful and can usually only be found in stores during the fall and winter months. We're going to take apple cider and reduce it down so that we can super concentrate the flavor! You of course can skip this step, if you prefer. Just be sure to only add ½ cup of liquid to the cupcake batter!!
Spices - I use a blend of cinnamon and nutmeg in these spiced apple cupcakes. But you can also substitute 2 teaspoons of your favorite fall spice blend (like apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, chai spice, etc.).
Apples - For the apple filling, you want to choose a firm, crisp apple variety! My favorites for baking are Honeycrisp or Granny Smith!
Cream Cheese - I love these apple cupcakes with this brown butter cream cheese frosting. However, you could also just do a plain brown butter frosting and leave the cream cheese out.
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
Apple Cider Reduction
In a small saucepan over medium heat, simmer the apple cider until it reduces down by half so that you have 1 cup (be sure to stir occasionally). This usually takes about 15 minutes.
Remove from the heat and let cool completely before using.
Apple Pie Filling
Peel and finely dice the apples and add to a large pot over medium heat, along with the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and 2 tablespoons of the apple cider reduction.
Cook gently over medium heat for 10-15 minutes or until the apples have softened.
Mix together the cornstarch and water to make a slurry and then slowly add to the apple filling until thickened.
Remove from the heat and let cool completely. Chill in the fridge until ready to use.
How to Make Apple Cider Cupcakes
Whisk the cake flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted brown butter, brown sugar, and sugar.
Then add in the eggs and vanilla whisk until fully combined.
Stir in about half of the flour mixture. Then stir in ½ cup of the apple cider reduction and the rest of the flour mixture and mix until fully combined.
Pour about ¼ cup of batter into each cupcake liner (they should be about halfway full).
Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack.
Let the cupcakes cool completely before filling and frosting.
Use a cupcake corer to remove the center of each cupcake, then fill with 1-2 teaspoons of cooled spiced apple filling.
Frost the filled apple cupcakes with brown butter frosting and then garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon, sliced apples, and cinnamon sticks. [If you want to garnish with sliced apples, be sure to soak them in lemon juice for a few minutes first so they don't brown!]
Tips for the Best Baked Goods
Use room temperature ingredients! Always make sure ingredients like butter, eggs, milk, yogurt, etc. are at room temperature before baking (unless the recipe indicates otherwise)! This ensures they'll incorporate into the batter more easily and leads to overall better texture. Remove all ingredients from the fridge 30 minutes to an hour before baking for best results.
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature.
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Cupcake Decorating Tips
Make sure you let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting!!
Use a cupcake corer to easily remove the center of your cupcakes before filling with the spiced apples.
For these big brown butter frosting swirls on these apple cupcakes, I use the large open star piping tip from this decorating kit. The tips are much larger than standard sizes and so fun for decorating cupcakes!
You can garnish these apple cinnamon cupcakes with sliced apples and cinnamon sticks. [If you want to garnish with sliced apples, be sure to soak them in lemon juice for a few minutes first so they don't brown!]
Recipe FAQ's
These cupcakes will last in the fridge for up to 3 days. However, they taste best when served at room temperature! I like to let them sit at room temperature for about an hour before serving.
No, but I highly recommend it because reducing the apple cider concentrates the flavor.
Nope! I love the extra flavor that brown butter adds to the cupcakes and frosting, but you can use regular unsalted butter if you prefer.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Apple Cider Cupcakes
Ingredients
Apple Cider Reduction
- 2 cups apple cider
Spiced Apple Filling
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 cups chopped apples, 2-3 medium apples
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons apple cider reduction
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons water
Apple Cider Cupcakes
- ½ cup unsalted brown butter, melted
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups cake flour, substitute all purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup apple cider reduction
Frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup unsalted brown butter, room temperature
- 3 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons apple cider reduction, more as needed
Top With
- apple slices
- cinnamon sticks
Instructions
Apple Cider Reduction
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, simmer the apple cider until it reduces down by half so that you have 1 cup (be sure to stir occasionally). This usually takes about 15 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and let cool completely before using.
Spiced Apple Filling
- Peel and finely dice the apples and add to a large pot over medium heat, along with the butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and 2 tablespoons of the apple cider reduction.
- Cook gently over medium heat for 10-15 minutes or until the apples have softened.
- Mix together the cornstarch and water to make a slurry and then slowly add to the apple filling until thickened.
- Remove from the heat and let cool completely. Chill in the fridge until ready to use.
Cupcakes
- Whisk the cake flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted brown butter, brown sugar, and sugar.
- Then add in the eggs and vanilla whisk until fully combined.
- Stir in about half of the flour mixture. Then stir in ½ cup of the apple cider reduction and the rest of the flour mixture and mix until fully combined.
- Pour about ¼ cup of batter into each cupcake liner (they should be about halfway full).
- Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack.
- Let the cupcakes cool completely before filling and frosting.
- Use a cupcake corer to remove the center of each cupcake, then fill with 1-2 teaspoons of cooled spiced apple filling.
Frosting
- While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the softened brown butter and cream cheese until completely smooth.
- Then add in the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla and beat on slow until combined.
- Slowly add in 2 tablespoons of the apple cider reduction until fully combined. Then beat the frosting for 3-4 minutes on high speed until light and fluffy.
- Frost the filled apple cupcakes with brown butter frosting and then garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon, sliced apples, and cinnamon sticks. [If you want to garnish with sliced apples, be sure to soak them in lemon juice for a few minutes first so they don't brown!]
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Aimee Curtright says
Overall, loved the flavors of this cupcake. Definitely, brings the flavors of autumn!
A few things to consider. First, I needed to add a little extra liquid to apple filling during cook; depending on the time of year, apples give out different amount of liquid (I made this in July).
Second, make extra brown butter and cider reduction, just in case (you can't go wrong with either 😋)
Third, allow the frosting to set in fridge before decorating; piping will be easier.
My only issue was the cupcake fell in the middle 😒
Do you have any suggestions? I happen to live in altitude.
I look forward to trying more of your recipes 😋
Aimee
Kyleigh Sage says
Unfortunately altitude can definitely affect cake rising so that's probably the culprit. I'm not an expert on making adjustments for altitude but this is a great article (High Altitude Baking) from King Arthur Baking that's really helpful! I would probably start with reducing the baking powder according to their chart because sinking can be caused by the cake rising too fast and then collapsing, so less leavening should help it rise slower and not collapse.