Chai Toffee Apple Cupcakes.

 

These cupcakes are the epitome of autumn for me. The cakes are moist from the apple, and gently spiced with the flavour of masala chai. But the pièce de résistance is that toffee apple sauce - it’s really quite divine. You will likely have some left over - its DELICIOUS on ice cream. Thank me later.

This recipe makes 12 large cupcakes. You could stretch it to 14-16 if you prefer them smaller but do reduce the baking time accordingly.

Ingredients.

Chai Apple Cupcakes

115g butter, unsalted, at room temperature

135g dark brown sugar

65g caster sugar, or granulated would work too

2 eggs, large, at room temperature

80ml milk

2 tsp vanilla extract, or vanilla bean paste/essence

190g plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda, (or ‘baking soda’)

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp chai spice blend, I make this blend from Minimalist Baker

180g apple, eating variety, grated with the skin on

Chai Buttercream

1/4 tsp of chai spice blend, see notes above

340g icing sugar, sifted

150g butter, softened at room temp (do not melt it)

3 tbsp milk

Toffee Apple Sauce

200g dark muscovado sugar

90g salted butter, cubed

100ml double cream

Salt, to taste, depending on how salty your butter is

2 small eating apples, or 1 large one

Equipment.

Freestanding mixer, or handheld if you’re strong!

Weighing scales, measuring jug & measuring spoons

Mixing bowl & spoon

Fork/whisk

Knife & chopping board

Seive

Grater

Saucepan

Wire cooling rack

Muffin tin & liners

Piping bag and large round nozzle

Method.

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c (fan)

  2. For the cupcakes, beat together the butter and sugars in a mixer until pale and fluffy

  3. Whisk together the eggs, milk, & vanilla extract

  4. Add this to the butter & sugar mixture, along with the grated apple and mix to combine

  5. Sieve the remaining dry ingredients together into a separate bowl

  6. Slowly fold the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, trying not to knock the air out

  7. Fill a muffin tin with paper liners and fill them 2/3 full with the mixture

  8. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown, nicely risen, and a knife comes out clean when inserted

  9. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack whilst you make the toppings

  10. For the buttercream, beat the butter in a mixer until pale and fluffy.

  11. Add the icing sugar, chai spice and milk, and continue beating for around 5 minutes. It’s difficult to over-whip it so do keep going until it’s super light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl periodically as you do so.

  12. For the toffee apple sauce, combine the sugar, cream & butter in a sauce pan on a medium heat stirring until all the sugar has dissolved and the sauce is silky smooth. It should be fairly stiff sauce at this point.

  13. Whilst the toffee is cooking, peel and dice the apple/s into small cubes, roughly 5mmx5mm.

  14. Add the apple cubes into the toffee and continue cooking gently until the apple has softened. The juice from the apples with loosen the sauce a little. It should be slightly salted to offset the sweetness, so test the seasoning and add more salt if required.

  15. To assemble, ensure all components are completely cool.

  16. Cut a small sphere out of the top of each cupcake.

  17. Using a wide round nozzle, start on the outside edge of the cupcake and pipe the buttercream frosting around in a circle, leaving a hole in the centre.

  18. Spoon about one tablespoon of the toffee apple sauce into the centre of each cupcake, or until the hole you cut is full and some apple sauce is visible above the buttercream frosting.

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