Apple cupcake with maple brown sugar frosting

This cute cuppie is the current recipe for the Cake Central Cupcake Club #15. Its an apple cake with maple brown sugar frosting.
The cake itself is ab-fab and I highly recommend giving it a try!
It starts just like many other scratch recipes.....cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time, make sure to scrape often. Then add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Its a pretty thick batter and it smells amazing.
Since we're talking about smelling so good.....just wait unil they start baking...Oh my goodness, its like autum in your own kitchen! It's heavenly!
Arent they beautiful? Pretty little domes make all the difference, dont they?


The frosting.......well......i'm not a fan of it at all. Thankfully, I tasted it first and only used it on 2 cuppies. The pic just above is close enough that you can see the consistency is a little loose. The taste and texture......well.....its grainy and thick, not to mention overly sweet. So, with that said, I am not going to post the recipe for the frosting.
My suggestion would be to pair it with your favorite cream cheese frosting ( or if you want mine, ill happily share what if you ask) maybe even adding a little maple syrup or maple extract for that extra special seasonal touch. Just a suggestion.
Also, the cake is so moist, a simple glaze might work just as well. It really depends on your preference.

Enjoy! Here's the recipe:


Apple Spice Cupcakes

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups unsweetened apple sauce

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line muffin tins with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. On a low speed, add applesauce and then the flour mixture, beating until just combined.
Fill each cup 3/4 full with batter. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, mine baked about 14 minutes.