Apple Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

The following recipe and photography were provided by our partner, Megan Weimer of Dollop of Dough.

These apple spice cupcakes with cream cheese frosting taste like Fall in a bite! They’re moist and flavored with warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.

The best thing about these cupcakes is that they are studded with fresh-chopped apples from Heinen’s. In the fall, Heinen’s sources apples from a variety of Midwest farms. Picked and available in their Produce Department in as little as a day, you simply can’t beat the freshness.

Speaking of freshness, unlike most other grocers, Heinen’s houses all of their apples in refrigerated cases rather than on dry tables, which results in a longer shelf life.

Get ready to enjoy the coziest dessert of the fall!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

The cupcakes have freshly chopped apples in every bite! You can use any kind of apple you like, but Honeycrisp and Granny Smith offer the perfect amount of tartness.
Smooth and tangy cream cheese frosting complements the apples and fall spices used in this recipe.
They’re easy to make! You can whip up a batch of these cupcakes in under an hour!

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. Heinen's cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Heinen's nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Heinen's allspice
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup Heinen's sugar
1/2 cup Heinen's brown sugar
1/3 cup Heinen's unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup Heinen's olive oil
1 large Heinen's cage free egg
1 Heinen's cage free egg white
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 cup apples, chopped

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup Heinen's unsalted butter, softened
8 oz. full-fat cream cheese, softened
4 cups Heinen's powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt

Instructions

For the Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Fill a cupcake pan with 12 liners and set aside.
Add the flour, baking powder, spices, salt and white and brown sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix on low until combined.
Add the butter and beat on low for 3-5 minutes until the texture resembles wet sand.
Next, add the oil, egg, egg white and vanilla extract. Mix on low until a batter forms.
Pour in the buttermilk and stir until well combined. The batter will be thin.
Next, fold in chopped apples until they’re evenly distributed throughout the batter.
Portion the batter evenly between the cupcake liners, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Let them cool completely before frosting.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

Beat the butter and cream cheese together in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer on medium-low speed until creamy and free of lumps.
With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until completely combined and smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
Add the vanilla and salt and mix well on medium-low speed.
Fill a piping bag with the frosting and pipe on top of each cupcake. Enjoy!