Cinnamon rum apple pie cupcakes

I've been looking back through my previous blog posts and have noticed quite a few changes as I baked more and more. For one thing, my food photography skills have drastically increased. They are still pretty limited, since I use the camera on my phone, but at least I take the time now to arrange the desserts before photographing them and touch up the pictures in Photoshop after.

I also used to bake with mixes all the time, but these days, I prefer to make my cupcakes and brownies from scratch. Switching over to measuring by weight instead of volume was also a big change. But probably the most noticeable change is that I've started spending more time decorating - I used to be only focused on the taste, but recently had gotten pretty hooked on cupcake decorating.

From this, I've been inspired to go back through old recipes and remake them better (and prettier). Today's cupcake up for a makeover - these apple pie cupcakes I made back in August.

The original recipe

As I recall, these turned out rather cute and tasted wonderful. I spent hours just mixing that meringue buttercream, but it was worth it - and that was before I had my Kitchenaid. I'd figure I make these again, but with some tweaks to the recipe and design.

New and improved recipe!

The cupcake recipe stayed the same with no change. The apple filling recipe was also very similar, but I added a few splashes of rum into it, just to give it a little kick. As for the frosting - I didn't have enough eggs for the meringue buttercream, so I stuck with a simple cinnamon rum buttercream instead.

The biggest change, however, was the assembly and design of these cupcakes. Like I did originally, I cored out these cupcakes, but I didn't just put the apple filling into the center. I also let them sit on the top of the cupcake. I piped the frosting on in a pie crust design to make the cupcakes look like cute little apple pies. I even baked them in foil liners to get a pie tin effect.

Compared to a pie crust box to show its mini-size!

After making these, I was left with a lot of cupcake cores, leftover apple filling, and leftover frosting. My natural reaction was to make a deconstructed apple pie cupcake (they are always doing this on those cooking competition shows!) for dessert.

Like the cupcake exploded...but still tasty!

This was a lot of fun - can't wait to look back through other recipes and remake them!

And TV is back! Just watched HIMYM...based on tonight's episode, I'm pretty sure the series is going to end the way I think it's going to....not sure how I feel about that. Guess I'll know in a month!


Cinnamon cupcakes (makes 24-32 cupcakes)
Recipe adapted from Kelly's Konfections

• 1 cup of buttermilk
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, unsalted
• 4 eggs
• 1 3/4 cup/350 g white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cup/250 g flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Melt butter with buttermilk in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once melted and combined, remove from heat and let cool. 
3. Beat eggs and sugar together in stand mixer on medium speed until batter forms thick ribbons (takes about 5-10 minutes). 
4. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together in a separate bowl. 
5. Mix in butter mixture, followed by vanilla. Finally stir in the flour on low speed until just combined (batter will be very runny). 
6. Pour batter into lined cupcake tins (about 3 Tbsp per liner). 
7. Bake in preheated oven for 18 minutes. 
8. Let cool. 
9. Remove the center of the cupcakes (I used an apple corer). 
10. Fill cupcakes with apple filling (recipe below).
11. Top cupcakes with frosting - either pipe lines to make it look like pie crust or top with frosting normally. 

Rum apple pie filling (makes enough filling for 24-32 cupcakes)

Recipe adapted from Kelly's Konfections

• 2 Tbsp of butter, unsalted
• 4 medium apples (I used Gala)
• 1 Tbsp white sugar
• 2 Tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp dark rum
• 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp water

1. Peel, core, and finely dice apples. 
2. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. 
3. Add in apples, white sugar, brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and rum
4. Cook until the apples are soft and have released their juices. Stir frequently - this will take about 10 minutes. 
5. Mix cornstarch and water together in a separate bowl, and then add to apples. Keep cooking until the apples are thickened. 
6. Let cool. 

Cinnamon rum buttercream frosting (makes enough frosting for the pie design)

Recipe from The Busty Baker

(If you want to pipe the frosting normally, double the recipe)

• 1/4 cup (half-stick) of butter, unsalted
• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp of dark rum
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• Almond milk, as needed

1. Cream butter in stand mixer on medium speed until fluffy. 
2. Add in powdered sugar, 1/4 cup at a time. 
3. Add in dark rum and cinnamon. 
4. If frosting is too thick, add in some milk to thin it out. 
5. Pipe onto cupcakes.