Apple Spice Cupcakes (Cake Mix)
These moist and flavorful Apple Spice Cupcakes are simple to make and perfect for fall! They have a delicious balance of spices, diced apples, and are topped with homemade cream cheese frosting. Nobody would guess that they start with a box of cake mix!
We love apple cakes and cupcakes and have made several recipes over the years including a great apple rum cake, apple upside down cake, apple pecan bundt cake, and apple cupcakes from scratch. We're so happy to have this new recipe for our collection of apple cakes!
Table of Contents
Ingredients
Here is a list of our star ingredients for the cupcakes.
- Spice Cake Mix (We used Duncan Hines Perfectly Moist, which is 15.25 oz)
- Melted Butter (we used butter instead of vegetable oil this time).
- Eggs
- 2 cups diced apples (We used Granny Smith)
- Milk
- Sour Cream for added richness.
- Flour & Sugar - these ingredients give cake mixes a more "from scratch" quality while also extending the batter a bit.
- Vanilla extract (because every cake needs a little more vanilla!)
*Ingredients for the frosting include cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Find the full recipe below!
How to Make Apple Spice Cupcakes
This doctored cake mix recipe is very simple! First, we added the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl and whisked to combine. Next, we added the eggs and wet ingredients: milk, melted butter, sour cream, an vanilla.
We mixed the cake batter for ten seconds and then increased to medium speed, and mixed for another two minutes. Finally, we gently stirred in the diced apples and filled the lined cupcake pans. Baking times may vary- our cupcakes were ready after about 16 minutes.
After cooling, we frosted the cupcakes with our favorite cream cheese frosting (using a large 1M star tip).
More Apple Cakes & Cupcakes
Make sure to check out our full collection of apple cake recipes! We have tons of great fall cake recipes too if you are looking for even more ideas.
Ingredients
- 1 box Spice Cake Mix 15.25g We used Duncan Hines Perfectly Moist
- ½ cup white sugar (100g)
- ½ cup all purpose flour (60g)
- ½ cup Melted Butter *this is one stick (113g)
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g)
- 1 cup Sour Cream
- 1 cup milk (we like two percent or whole milk)
- 2 cups of diced apples we used Granny Smith (you could use others like Honey Crisp, Golden Delicious, etc.)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F & line cupcake pans with cupcake liners.
- Add the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl (flour, sugar, cake mix) and whisk to blend.
- Next add the eggs, sour cream, melted butter, milk, and vanilla (everything but the apples)
- Mix on low speed for 10 seconds to begin incorporating the ingredients and then bump up the speed to medium, mixing for 2 minutes.
- Gently stir in the diced apples.
- Fill the lined cupcake pans with batter- about ¼ cup of batter per cupcake.
- Bake at 325F for 16-18 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs attached.
- This recipe makes approximately 28-30 cupcakes.
These sound absolutely amazing. I have not made them yet. I do a lot of desserts for large crowds. 50-70 people. Can this single recipe be in a 9x13? It's easier to eat for my elderly crowd. Thanks.