Alphabetic Recipes A — Apple Cupcakes

Welcome to a new series for this site. Today is the first entry of a whole series. Each day for the next month and more, I will be adding a new recipe linked to a different letter of the alphabet. As I collect recipes from all over the globe, and have lots of Welsh recipes, I am going to use a blend of the Welsh and English alphabets:

A | B | C | D | E | F | Ff | G | H | I | J | K | L | Ll | M | N | O | P | Q | R | Rh | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

so there will be 30 entries in total. As today is the first day in this series I am starting with the letter 'A'.

As it's autumn and apple season, I'm starting with a classic American Recipe for an Apple Cupcake (that's four 'A's all in one recipe!).

Apple Cupcake Recipe from America

Serves: 24

For the Cake:

For the Cake:
225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
200g vanilla sugar (to make this, split a vanilla pod in half, tuck into a jar of caster sugar and wait 2 days)
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
320g plain flour
1/2 tsp freshly-grated nutmeg
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 large baking apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped (125g to 150g)
100ml sour cream
125g applesauce (apple purée)

For the Frosting (Icing):
225g cream cheese, softened
115g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
500g icing (confectioner's) sugar

Method:

Begin with the cupcakes: In a large bowl, cream together the butter and vanilla sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly to combine after each addition. Now add the vanilla extract and beat the mixture until smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, nutmeg, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Mix well to combine then add half the flour mix to the liquid ingredients. Mix gently to combine then work in the sour cream. Add the remaining flour mix and beat until thoroughly combined (but do not over-mix) then gently fold in the chopped apples.

Line two twelve-well muffin tin with paper cases. Spoon in the apple cupcake mix, ensuring that you fill each one no more than half full. Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 180º and bake for about 18 minutes, or until the tops are springy and golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre emerges cleanly.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack. At this point, put the apple purée into a piping bag fitted with a fine nozzle. Pipe a small amount of the apple mix into the centre of each cupcake, then transfer to a wire rack and set aside to cool completely.

When the apple cupcakes are cool, prepare the icing (frosting). Using a hand mixture, cream together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and the lemon juice and beat once more. Now, using the mixture at low speed, gradually add in the icing sugar and beat until thoroughly combined.

Spoon into a piping bag, add a star-shaped nozzle and use to decorate the top of the cake. If desired, add a dried apple quarter to decorate.

For more cupcake recipes, please have a look at the Celtnet Cupcake and Information recipes page. This apple cupcake recipe is brought to you in conjunction with the Celtnet Guide to Recipes Beginning with 'A'.