Incredibly soft apple cider cupcakes topped with a silky, smooth brown sugar swiss meringue buttercream makes for a scrumptious fall treat that will leave you yearning for more!
Okay, so I am pretty new to the apple cider game and cannot believe it took me so long to indulge in this classic fall drink! Usually, I am quite adventurous when it comes to trying new foods and drinks, especially when it comes to sweets. However, I was very hesitant to try apple cider for a long time. I somehow convinced myself that I would not like it and refrained from even having a taste. It was not until about two years ago that my resistance towards apple cider slowly started to change thanks to social media. After seeing so many eye-catching apple cider bakes and drinks on my Pinterest feed, I started to entertain the idea of giving apple cider a chance. I mean, it could not be so bad if so many of my favorite food bloggers were using it in their recipes. With that in mind, I broke down, had my first sip of apple cider and never looked back. It is now one of the many fall-inspired drinks that I look forward to indulging in during this time of year.
Apple cider, a drink made from cooking down apples into a concentrate, is a great way to naturally enhance a bake with apple flavor. When I decided that my weekend bake was going to be apple cider cupcakes, I made sure to buy an apple cider that was all natural without any additives or preservatives. I really wanted the natural sweet flavor of apples to come through in these cupcakes. For an extra special treat, I went for it and made my first swiss meringue buttercream! I replaced regular sugar with brown sugar because brown sugar and apples are a match made in Heaven. This pairing of the apple cider cupcakes with the brown sugar swiss meringue buttercream was pure magic and made for the most delectable fall inspired treat!
How to Make Apple Cider Cupcakes
Key Ingredients
- Apple Cider – all-natural apple cider is the main liquid in these cupcakes that adds enriched apple flavor.
- Unsweetened Applesauce – is used in recipe to add moisture and additional apple flavor to cupcakes.
- Sugar – regular cane/granulated sugar is replaced with brown sugar mainly for the purpose of flavor and the fact that I find brown sugar compliments the apple flavor in cupcakes perfectly.
- Fat – unflavored oil instead of butter is used in recipe to ensure that only the flavor of apples is prominent in cupcakes.
- Flours – a mix of unbleached all-purpose flour and unbleached cake flour are used because the all-purpose flour provides more stability while the cake flour allows for a cupcake with a soft texture.
The recipe for these apple cider cupcakes can be whipped up in under an hour following these simple steps. Add apple cider and vinegar into a standard measuring cup or small bowl, lightly whisk and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, add and mix the flours, rising agents, spices, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, add and whisk to combine the sugar and oil until a thick, syrupy mixture is reached, about 1-2 minutes. Oil-sugar mixture should not look separated. Next, the egg and vanilla extract are whisked into wet mixture. Alternating between dry and liquid, add and mix the flour mixture and apple cider into wet batter starting and ending with the flour. Take care not to overmix cupcake batter. Mix just until a uniform batter is reached with any streaks or clumps of flour. Equally divide cupcake batter into a 12-cavity cupcake pan lined with cupcake liners and bake.
How to Make Brown Sugar Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Key Ingredients
- Egg Whites
- Brown Sugar
- Unsalted Butter
- Sea Salt
Okay, so as I mentioned earlier, this was my first time making swiss meringue buttercream. I always found the idea of heating up eggs whites and sugar together before mixing into a meringue to be a bit daunting. Nevertheless, after years of relying on my trusted American buttercream recipe, I decided to switch things up by finally tackling one of my baking goals – swiss meringue buttercream. To avoid ending up with a sad situation, I did some research into how to make swiss meringue buttercream and found this blog post from Nad’s Bakery to be the very helpful. I particular liked how it included a standard ingredient ratio for making swiss meringue buttercream – one part egg whites to two parts sugar to three parts butter. Put simply, for every 1 ounces of egg whites, you would use 2 ounces of sugar and three ounces of butter. Now that I knew the right proportion of ingredients to use, it was time to learn the best method of making swiss meringue buttercream. For that, I referenced this blog post from Liv For Cake which expertly details the process of making swiss meringue buttercream with troubleshooting tips. Armed with the information I needed to successfully make swiss meringue buttercream, I followed the steps detailed below:
- Clean – properly clean all tools that will be used for making the meringue ensuring there is no presence of residual grease; this includes the mixing bowl, whisk and paddle attachments of a stand mixer.
- Cook – add egg whites, sugar, and sea salt into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk to combine. Place bowl over a pot of simmering water ensuring the base of the bowl is not touching the water. Cook egg white-sugar mixture until it registers 160F on a kitchen thermometer and there is no presence of sugar granules.
- Whisk – at high speed on a stand mixer (8-10) whisk warm egg white-sugar mixture until the base of mixing bowl is cool to touch, no longer hot (about 15-20 minutes) and meringue has reach stiff peak stage.
- Mix – switch to paddle attachment and slowly add cubed pieces of room temperature but semi-firm butter to meringue while mixing at medium speed (4-6) on stand mixer. Once all the butter is incorporated into meringue, add the vanilla extract and increase speed on mixer back to high. Mix buttercream for an addition 3-4 minutes until a fluffy and smooth consistency is reached.
Call it beginner’s luck but I ran into almost no problems at all making this brown sugar swiss meringue buttercream. The only issue I encountered was that my buttercream went soft and kind of liquidly after adding the butter. To rectify this, I place the buttercream in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes and then whipped it on high for 2-3 minutes. Much to my surprise, it whipped back up into a super light and fluffy buttercream. I am guessing that my meringue was still too warm at the time I added the butter. If you run into this problem, simply refrigerate for at least 20-30 minutes and then whip buttercream at high speed to restore fluffy texture.
Helpful Tips
- Make sure all kitchen tools used to make meringue are thoroughly cleaned; if not, you will run the risk of the meringue that whipping up properly. As an extra measure, whip all kitchen tools with small quantity of lemon juice or vinegar.
- If you do not have a kitchen thermometer, you can determine if egg white-sugar mixture is properly cooked by rubbing some of the mixture between your fingertips. It should feel smooth without any sugar granules.
- If meringue becomes soft and liquidly after adding the butter, the meringue was mostly likely too warm. To fix buttercream, refrigerate for at least 20 minutes and whip at high speed. Buttercream should fluff back up.
- If looking for a quick, less involved frosting, brown sugar swiss meringue may be replace with your favorite cream cheese or American buttercream.
Apple Cider Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Buttercream
Incredibly soft apple cider cupcakes topped with a silky, smooth brown sugar swiss meringue buttercream makes for a scrumptious fall treat that will leave you yearning for more!
- Prep Time: 30 Minutes
- Cook Time: 45 Minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 12 Cupcakes
Ingredients
Apple Cider Cupcakes
• 3/4 Cup Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 Cup Unbleached Cake Flour
• 1 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Allspice
• 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
• 1/4 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
• 1/4 Teaspoon Sea Salt
• 1 Large Egg, Room Temperature
• 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Cup + 2 Tablespoon Apple Cider, Room Temperature
• 1/4 Cup + 2 Tbsp Flavorless Oil i.e. Grapeseed/Avocado Oil
• 1/4 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce, Homemade or Store-Brought
• 1 Teaspoon Apple Cider/White Vinegar
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Brown Sugar Swiss Meringue Buttercream
• 3 Large Egg Whites (3 Ounces)
• 3/4 Cup (6 ounces) Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsp (9 ounces) Unsalted Butter
• Pinch of Sea Salt
Instructions
Apple Cider Cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 325F. Fill a 12-cavity cupcake pan with cupcake liners and set aside.
Add apple cider and vinegar into a standard measuring cup or small bowl and stir to combine. - In a large mixing bowl, add the flours, spices, sea salt, baking powder and soda. Whisk flour mixture to combine.
- In a separate mixing bowl, add and whisk the sugar and oil until a syrup-like consistency is reached, about 1-2 minutes. Next, whisk in the applesauce followed by the egg and vanilla extract.
- Alternating between dry and liquid, add and mix the flour mixture and apple cider into wet batter starting and ending with the flour. Take care not to overmix cupcake batter. Mix just until the batter comes together without any streaks or clumps of flour.
- Equally divide cupcake batter into prepared cupcake pan and bake for 20-22 or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.
- Allow cupcakes to cool in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Cupcakes needs to be completely cooled before frosting.
Brown Sugar Swiss Meringue Buttercream
- Thoroughly clean all tools that will be used for making the meringue ensuring there is no presence of residual grease; this includes the mixing bowl, whisk and paddle attachments of a stand mixer.
- Into the bowl of a stand mixer, add egg whites, sugar, and sea salt and whisk to combine. Place bowl over a pot of simmering water ensuring the base of the bowl is not touching the water. Cook egg white-sugar mixture until it registers 160F on a kitchen thermometer and there is no presence of sugar granules.
- Whisk warm egg white-sugar mixture at high speed (8-10) on stand mixer until the base of mixing bowl is cool to touch, about 10-15 minutes and meringue has reach stiff peak stage.
- Switch to paddle attachment and slowly add cubed pieces of room temperature but semi-firm butter to meringue at medium speed (4-6) on stand mixer.
- Once all the butter is incorporated into meringue, add the vanilla extract and increase speed on mixer back to high. Mix buttercream for an addition 3-4 minutes until a fluffy and smooth consistency is reached.
Assembly
- Transfer buttercream to a pastry bag fitted with your preferred pastry tip. I used a Wilton 6B tip.
- Frost cupcakes with buttercream using your favorite piping design. I went with a simple swirl design but the possibilities are endless!
- Lightly dust with ground cinnamon, optional.
Sarah
These were super easy to make and actually saved me a large amount of dishes to wash at the end! I made a slight adjustment to the amount of all spice (cut it to 1/4 tsp) since the apple cider I used was already “spiced”. I did notice that the recipe instructions left out when to mix in the applesauce so I added it with the eggs and vanilla. They came out delicious 🙂