(Poison) Chocolate Apple Caramel Cupcakes

“…I’ll share a secret with you. This is no ordinary apple…”
– The Evil Queen, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Once upon a time, there was a young girl who lived in a land consumed with beauty and innovation. When she wasn’t fighting the Evil Queen or baking apple dumplings, she would share her own ideas to the world. In a year’s time, the girl had worked tirelessly on her food blog so when it’s first anniversary had finally arrived, she was ready to celebrate. 

Okay, that’s enough story-time and theatrics for today. This time we’re going to be making dangerously good treats: (Poison – shh!!) Chocolate Apple Caramel Cupcakes. Imagine how cute these sparkly little cupcakes would be at a Snow White or Disney Princess party. Adorable! Now, no more diddle-daddling – let’s dig down into the core! (HA! Oh boy, someone stop me now…)

Someone has a birthday today…

That’s right everyone – Snow How to Eat has just turned one! On this very day, 365 days ago, Snow How to Eat published its very first post: Classic Carbonara. It is hard to believe that a year has already passed, despite how much Snow How to Eat has evolved. Since its first post in November 2016, this little food blog has taken its first steps with creating exciting recipes, it has grown to include articles on restaurants, travel, and local events, and lastly, it has matured into this beautiful site that is both user friendly and easy on the eyes. I know, I’m starting to get a little corny but I have to say that I am quite proud of how much Snow How to Eat has developed over this past year. More than that, I’m excited for what might be next for this young food blog. 

Anyway, what goes better with a birthday or anniversary than some cake? Better yet, let’s make that cupcakes!

Ooey Gooey (Poison) Chocolate Apple Caramel Cupcakes

With this recipe, I consulted my cupcake bible: The Cake Book by Cupcake Jemma. As her name suggests, she loves cupcakes and is amazing at making them. While I do add my own little spin to the recipe, I do recommend that you check out her Youtube channel too. 

To get started, preheat the oven to 350°F. Finely chop 150g of dark chocolate with a food processor (but if you’re lazy like me, use a chilled knife) and stir it into the already sifted dry cupcake ingredients: 350g of flour, 60g of really good cocoa powder, 370g of castor sugar, 1 tsp of baking soda, and 1/2 tsp of fine sea salt. The key to amazing chocolate cakes and other chocolate desserts is to use high quality cocoa powder. Trust me, there’s nothing worse than crappy, stale-tasting chocolate – yuck!

In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet cupcake ingredients: 3 large eggs, 240ml of your favourite coffee (cooled), 240ml of buttermilk, and 210ml of vegetable oil. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients and blend until smooth. Using a jug or measuring cup, carefully fill 2/3 of the red liners in the tray with the cupcake batter. Now just pop the cupcake trays into the oven for about 20 minutes and watch those babies riiiiiise!

While the cupcakes are baking…

Begin to make the apple caramel by peeling and coring 3 apples. When choosing the type of apple, grab one that it crisp enough to grate and flavourful enough to add a noticeable apple taste. Try Braeburn, Jazz, or Cox’s apples. Just don’t use Gala – they’re crisp, fragrant and juicy, but Gala apples lose their fragrance when cooked and can become a little rubbery when baked.

Grate the apples into coarse shreds and then throw it onto a pan over high heat with 75g of cubed unsalted butter and 150g of soft dark brown sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally until it deepens into this beautiful and rich golden colour – about 5 or 6 minutes. Remove it from the heat and slowly being to pour in about 140ml of double cream while stirring continuously. Once everything is all velvety and mixed together, set it aside and let it cool completely. 

Now, to whip it. Whip it good!

Next we want to whip up a delicious bowl of apple caramel buttercream frosting for the chocolate cupcakes. Using an electric mixer, beat 375g of softened butter on low slowly increasing to a high speed for about 5 minutes or until the butter is almost completely white and you can see stiff and wispy peaks in the bowl. In 2 stages, add 530g of sifted powdered sugar to the bowl and mix for about 3 minutes in each stage. Be sure to start on low, gradually increasing to a high speed when mixing the sugar and butter or else you’re going to end up with a Winter Wonderland in your kitchen!

Now that you have a basic buttercream frosting base ready, add a little more than half of the apple caramel into the bowl and mix for about 3 to 5 minutes. For the final touch, mix in some red food colouring until the cupcake frosting has a nice pink or red tint. At this point, we can absolutely just dress up the cupcakes with the frosting, it would be delicious, and we can just call it a day. But today is a very special day, so we are going to go that extra mile and fill the cupcakes with this yummy apple caramel before finally topping it with the buttercream frosting.

Fill ‘er up

Grab your apple corer and remove the center to each cupcake so there’s a hallow cylinder inside. Pour the remaining apple caramel into a piping bag and begin filling in the center of each cupcake with the caramel. Once all the cupcakes are filled, use a piping bag to begin spiraling the frosting in the center outwards and make a second layer on the outer circle of the spiral so that there’s a little dip in the center. If you do not own a piping bag, just use a baking spatula and shape it to look like an apple. Sprinkle the red rock sugar all over so that the frosting looks completely crystallized. Finish it off by sticking in a small piece of dark chocolate and a mint leaf in the center so that the cupcake looks like an apple. 

Well, there you have it: ooey gooey (poison) chocolate apple caramel cupcakes. And trust me, this apple is anything but bad!