caramel apple cupcakes

hello blogging world. i took last week off, as you can see. and i kind of needed to. i was swamped at work, not feeling so hot and my birthday was on sunday, october 13th. but i'm glad to be back!

mmm, these are good. and they're so fun to decorate if you're into caramel. the original recipe called for some chopped apples, but i left those out (feel free to throw them in if you're into chunky fruit!).

for the cupcakes:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• a couple dashes of vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup plain yogurt
• 2/3 cup apple butter

preheat the oven to 350 degrees. mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon in a bowl and whisk. beat your butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add both eggs and vanilla extract. beat in yogurt. next, incorporate flour mixture and apple butter, beating in separate additions, starting and ending with flour.

spoon mixture into cupcake pans and bake for 25-28 minutes.

for the frosting:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablepoons heavy whipping cream

beat together butter, vanilla and whipping cream. add powdered sugar in separate additions until incorporated. frost as desired, or use a decorating bag and tip. top with a soft caramel candy and caramel syrup.

looking for other fall desserts? check out my posts on pumpkin butterscotch cookies, pumpkin spice cupcakes with cream cheese icing, + red velvet cupcakes!

recipe adapted from paula deen.