Applesauce cupcakes will be your new favorite fall dessert. Tender cupcakes are made with applesauce and cozy fall spices and topped with a decadent brown butter frosting.
Vanilla cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes are fantastic year round, but what about a cupcake that's just for fall? Applesauce cupcakes are the dessert you're looking for.
These cupcakes are moist and tender from the addition of applesauce in the batter. Cozy spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg add a distinct fall flavor that you're going to love! Adding brown butter frosting on top turns these cupcakes into a decadent treat.
Applesauce cupcakes are great anytime, but are especially popular during the fall and winter months.
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Ingredients and substitutions
- Unsalted butter - Adds moisture and flavor to your cupcakes. If using salted butter, omit half of the listed salt from the recipe.
- Granulated sugar - Adds the perfect amount of sweetness and also helps your cupcakes retain moisture during and after baking.
- Vanilla extract - Adds flavor to your cupcakes.
- Egg - Only one egg is needed for this recipe. Egg adds moisture and structure to a cupcake recipe. Normally, a recipe of this size would call for two eggs, but we're replacing one egg with some of the listed applesauce.
- All-purpose flour - Adds structure and balances with the wet ingredients in the recipe. I have not tested this recipe with other types of flours, so I can't say for sure how it would turn out with substitutions. To keep from wasting ingredients, I highly recommend searching for a recipe written with the ingredients you have on hand instead of making substitutions that haven't been tested.
- Salt - Enhances the flavor of the cupcakes.
- Leavening - You'll need a combination of baking soda and baking powder to get the proper lift. One cannot be substituted with the other.
- Spices - Cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg give these cupcakes a warm fall flavor.
- Applesauce - I recommend only using unsweetened applesauce in this recipe. Sweetened applesauce will make these cupcakes too sweet.
Tips and tricks
For all of my favorite cake tips, see my full post: 10 tips for baking cake
Room temperature ingredients - Make sure your butter, eggs, and applesauce are all room temperature before beginning (not melted, not cold). Room temperature ingredients emulsify when mixed and create a creamy, even batter that bakes up fluffy in the oven.
Don't overmix the batter - Mix your dry ingredients just enough to incorporate them into the batter. Overmixing can overwork the gluten, causing your cake to turn out tough.
Don't omit or reduce any of the moisture-adding ingredients - Butter, applesauce, eggs, and granulated sugar all do their part in ensuring your cake turns out moist and tender. Reducing, omitting, or substituting these ingredients can cause your cake to turn out dry.
Dividing batter - When dividing cupcake batter, I like to use a large cookie scoop (Amazon) which is the perfect size to fill a cupcake liner. This ensures your cupcakes all turn out the same size and makes dividing batter a breeze.
Allow cupcakes to cool completely - Do not unwrap warm cupcakes. Cupcakes will stick to the liners until they're completely cool. Warm cupcakes will melt a buttercream frosting, so wait until they're completely cooled to frost.
Frequently asked questions
Browning butter is as simple as melting butter in a saucepan over medium heat and allowing it to brown in the pan. You'll notice brown flakes forming on the bottom of the pan after about 4 to 5 minutes. Stir the butter frequently as it begins to brown. This helps scrape up browned bits on the bottom to prevent burning. Once the butter looks golden brown with a good amount of brown flecks, remove the butter from the heat. It shouldn't look dark or black.
Yes, feel free to use any type of frosting with this cupcake recipe. If you prefer a less sweet frosting, try my recipe for ermine frosting.
Here are three methods to check for doneness. I prefer the spring back method, but all three work well.
Toothpick - Using a toothpick is a popular method to test for doneness. Stick a toothpick into the center of a cupcake. If it comes out with crumbs or nothing at all, they're done. If it comes out with wet batter, your cupcakes need more time.
Spring back - Press a finger gently onto the top of one of your cupcakes. If it springs right back, your cupcakes are done. If it leaves an indent, your cupcakes need more time.
Thermometer - You can also use an instant read thermometer to test for doneness. Cupcakes are done when they reach 205 degrees Fahrenheit in the center.
Applesauce cupcakes will keep for 3-4 days in a tightly sealed container at room temperature.
Yes, cupcakes (frosted or unfrosted) can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or for several hours on the countertop before serving.
Applesauce adds moisture and some structure to a baking recipe. In this particular recipe, we're replacing one egg and all of the milk with applesauce.
Troubleshooting
Baked goods can turn out dry for many reasons. No one intends to make dry cupcakes, but a step/ingredient could have been unintentionally missed while preparing your cupcakes. The most popular reasons include:
- Substituting/reducing the moisture adding ingredients (butter, applesauce, granulated sugar, and eggs)
- Adding too much flour (I highly recommend using a kitchen scale to prevent this)
- Overbaking. If you haven't substituted/reduced any ingredients and are 100% sure that everything has been measured with accuracy, the only other reason baked goods turn out dry is from overbaking. I highly recommend watching your cupcakes through the door instead of relying on time alone. Ovens can run hotter or colder than the next oven, and some ovens even have hot spots, so I recommend testing early and often when trying a brand new recipe.
Sinking can happen for many reasons. Overmixing the batter (which adds extra air that's released during baking), underbaking, using expired leavening, using the wrong leavening, or accidentally doubling the leavening can all cause your cupcakes to sink in the middle.
Cupcake can turn out dense from expired leavening, overmixing the wet and dry ingredients (this overworks the gluten), not whipping the butter and sugar long enough, or adding extra wet ingredients (like adding sour cream or extra applesauce to make cupcakes "extra moist"). If the balance of wet and dry ingredients is off, this can cause a change in texture, preventing your cupcakes from rising properly in the oven.
Recommended
📖 Recipe
Applesauce Cupcakes
Ingredients
Applesauce cupcakes
- 1 cup (198 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1.5 cups (180 g) all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup (255 g) unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
Brown butter frosting
- 1.5 cups (339 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups (454 g) confectioner's sugar
- 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons (42 g) heavy cream, or milk
Instructions
Applesauce cupcakes
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cupcake pan with liners. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add butter and sugar. With a hand mixer (or stand mixer) cream ingredients together until light and fluffy, about a minute. Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined and fluffy.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients: flour, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir until just incorporated. Add half of the applesauce and mix until just incorporated. Repeat once more until all ingredients are incorporated into batter. Do not overmix.
- Divide batter between 14 cupcake liners. Bake in preheated oven for about 18 to 21 minutes, or until cupcake pops back up when pressed down in the center, or when toothpick inserted in the center comes back with crumbs, not wet batter.
- Remove pan from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring cupcakes to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Brown butter frosting
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter, stirring frequently. Butter will begin to foam and boil. After 4 to 5 minutes you will see brown flecks appear in the bottom of the pan. Continue to stir until butter is golden and flecks are a medium brown color. Watch closely, butter will brown quickly. The entire process will take about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Remove butter from heat and pour into a small bowl. Refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes, or until butter has cooled to room temperature and beings to solidify.
- Add browned butter to a large bowl and whip until creamy. Add confectioner's sugar, half at a time, mixing slowly to incorporate. Increase speed and whip for 2 minutes until fluffy.
- Then, add vanilla extract and heavy cream. Whip another 2-3 minutes, or until frosting is fluffy.
- Pipe or spread frosting with a knife onto cupcakes and serve.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- Storage: Cupcakes will keep for 3-4 days at room temperature in a tightly sealed container.
- Cool your cakes: Allow cupcakes to cool completely before removing from paper liners or frosting. If still warm, cupcakes will stick to the paper liners. Buttercream frosting melts between 90-95 degrees, and will melt if frosted onto a warm cupcake.
- Frosting scaling: Frosting recipe makes enough frosting for tall, dramatic piped frosting (as shown in the photos). For less frosting, cut frosting recipe in half.
- Top tips: Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking cake, based on reader comments and questions!
Have you tried freezing these?
Yes, cupcakes (frosted or unfrosted) can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or for several hours on the countertop before serving.
Would it be ok to add raisins to the recipe or would that mess it up?
I haven't tried adding raisins to this recipe before, so I can't say for sure how it would turn out. If you give it a try, let us know how it goes!
Why just one egg? Thanks Sandy
Hi Sandy, the applesauce adds structure and moisture, so we're able to reduce the amount of eggs needed.
Light, fluffy and delicious!! Also super easy!
Batter is strangely thick and stiff, more like bread dough than cake or cupcake batter. I followed the instructions as written, without modification. The cupcakes were tasty but dense and did not produce a flat top – the shape of the dough remained throughout baking, as with bread.
Hi Anne, the batter should be a little thick (like the photos above), but it sounds like it was thicker than it should be if the cupcakes turned out dense.
Potentially too much flour was added to the dough, which can cause the batter to turn out thick and baked cupcakes to turn out dense. How was your flour measured? I recommend using a kitchen scale, or scooping your flour into a measuring cup with a spoon, then leveling off with a knife. Scooping flour directly from a bin (especially if it's been sitting for a while) can compact flour into the cup, adding up to 25% extra flour to the recipe.
Made these and they're so delicious! The browned butter frosting is the best part for sure!!