Applesauce Cupcakes

Give your homemade applesauce new and glamorous life in these delicious applesauce cupcakes!

Made with simple ingredients these moist cupcakes are full of warming spice perfect for fall and beyond.

This great recipe is sure to become part of your regular rotation for fall desserts, bake sales, and more! And heck, because it does use applesauce one could truly make them anytime of year when the baking urge hits.

Pantry Ingredients

This is intentionally a simple recipe. Designed to take advantage of a well-stocked pantry and prevent any extra trips to the store. While they are basic, here are some things to keep to mind:

Applesauce

Start with unsweetened and plain (no spice) applesauce for this recipe.

Use the best applesauce you can find. I start with my homemade chunky applesauce and puree it until smooth in a blender and then proceed.

If you’re buying applesauce from the grocery store or local market it should contain nothing but apples, water, and some kind of acid. The acid is usually lemon juice or ascorbic acid – which is simply Vitamin C. The acid is to prevent the applesauce from turning brown. There doesn’t need to be anything else in the applesauce.

If you’re starting with homemade applesauce that does contain sugar and spice, you may want to add less sugar and skip the spices in the original recipe below.

Cozy Spices

Cinnamon and clove combine for a hit of warming spice here. However, no one is locked into those choices.

Switch up the spice to personal favorites. Ginger, cardamom, allspice, nutmeg would all be tasty. Apple pie spice, gingerbread spice, any kind of sweet spice mix would also work.

Butter

Unlike many applesauce cake recipes, these rich treats include butter alongside the applesauce.

The butter does indeed add richness and make these feel more like cupcakes than say applesauce muffins.

If you wanted to make them vegan or dairy-free, you could use margarine or shortening instead. 

The recipe as written uses salted butter and includes no additional salt. If you use unsalted butter, add 1/2 teaspoon salt to the dry ingredients.

Flour

Basic all-purpose flour makes these easy to whip up and what most folks think of when they think of cupcakes.

However, substitute 1 cup of whole wheat flour if desired for a lovely whole grain crunch and heartiness that is quite lovely.

Maple Syrup

If you make the maple frosting, use real maple syrup. The darkest maple syrup you can find will give the best flavor.

Don’t use imitation maple syrup. The flavor simply doesn’t compare.

Maple syrup is expensive, I know, but it’s worth using the real thing here for a special treat.

Size

The recipe is written for regular-size muffins cups, however; one could make the mini size if desired.

The mini size would be great for larger parties. Simply check for doneness much sooner if going with the smaller size.

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Optional Additions

While the cupcakes are delicious just as they are, there are additions to make them heartier if desired.

Add up to 1 cup of the following:

• Peeled & Diced Apple
• Dark Chocolate Chips
• Chopped Nuts
• Raisins or other dried fruit bits

Frosting Choices

The recipe does include a maple frosting that works wonderfully but that isn’t the only choice.

Use heavy cream instead of maple syrup and add a teaspoon of vanilla extract for a simple buttercream frosting.

Cream cheese frosting would be delicious.

Caramel frosting would compliment the apple flavor wonderfully.

A dollop of fresh whipped cream on the top of each cupcake just before serving would be a nice switch.

Skip frosting and serve with a scoop of ice cream instead.

Decorative Touches

I always keep my decorating style a bit on the rustic, very basic side. I enjoy the look of frosting just kind of spread haphazardly with a butter knife on a cupcake. However, feel free to use a piping bag and decorative tips if desired.

To give the cupcakes a little more decorative appearance consider placing a candied walnut or pecan on the top of each frosted cupcake.

Roll the edges of the frosting in some finely chopped nuts or sprinkles for an additional decorative touch.

How to Store

Keep fresh cupcakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

This delicious recipe freezes well, so make a double batch if time allows.

To freeze, simply put baked and cooled cupcakes into a freezer bag and freeze. You can freeze them frosted or unfrosted.

If you freeze them frosted, let them thaw overnight in the fridge prior to serving.

If you freeze them unfrosted, let thaw at room temperature and then frost just before serving.

Use up frozen cupcakes within 6 months for best flavor and to prevent freezer burn.

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