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.
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.
Preheat the oven to 180c (fan)
For the cupcakes, beat together the butter and sugars in a mixer until pale and fluffy
Whisk together the eggs, milk, & vanilla extract
Add this to the butter & sugar mixture, along with the grated apple and mix to combine
Sieve the remaining dry ingredients together into a separate bowl
Slowly fold the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, trying not to knock the air out
Fill a muffin tin with paper liners and fill them 2/3 full with the mixture
Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown, nicely risen, and a knife comes out clean when inserted
Leave to cool completely on a wire rack whilst you make the toppings
For the buttercream, beat the butter in a mixer until pale and fluffy.
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.
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.
Whilst the toffee is cooking, peel and dice the apple/s into small cubes, roughly 5mmx5mm.
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.
To assemble, ensure all components are completely cool.
Cut a small sphere out of the top of each cupcake.
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.
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.
