Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes

Welcome back to Mimi's Organic Eats. Today we're making apple cinnamon cupcakes with vanilla bean buttercream frosting. These small cupcakes were a seasonal menu item at my bakery. Let me show you guys how to make them. So first we're going to preheat our oven to 350 degrees. So first we're going to grate our apple into a large mixing bowl and I'm just going to mix up the batter with my hand mixer today, but you guys could also just use a spatula and a whisk as well or even your hand mixer too. This recipe is super flexible. So we're not going to peel the apple, we're going to leave the skin on, and you guys want to make sure that you're using a fine grater for this. You don't want to use a large grater because that can cause like a gummy texture in the finished cupcake which is not ideal. Then we're going to add in half a cup of vanilla oil. If you guys are avoiding seed oils, feel free to use olive oil instead. Then we're going to add in our cane sugar, then our light brown sugar, and then two large eggs. Now we're going to mix on low using a hand mixer until all the wet ingredients are combined. Next we're going to add in our all-purpose flour, then our cinnamon, then our baking powder, and our salt. Now we're going to mix on low until everything is combined and there's no dry bits of flour. Then we're going to line a cupcake pan with liners. Now we're going to fill the cupcake liners three quarters full. Now we're going to bake these at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the cupcakes are done. So once our cupcakes have cooled, now it's time to make our vanilla bean buttercream frosting. So we're going to add in our softened butter into the bowl of our stand mixer. I'm using my hand mixer today for ease because I think it's so much faster when making frosting, but if you guys want to use a hand mixer that also works too. And I like to sift the powdered sugar right into the mixing bowl as I weigh it because it's so much easier. So now we're going to add our ground vanilla bean. If you don't have vanilla bean, you can also use vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract as well, but let me let you in on a little bakery secret. You guys need to stop buying vanilla bean paste. All it is is the ground vanilla beans that I have here today, but with added sugars, gums, and stabilizers, which you definitely don't need in baked goods. So there's absolutely no need to buy vanilla bean paste if you can just buy the ground vanilla beans. I'm going to link my favorite option and what we use in my bakery in the description for you guys. And like I said, if you don't have vanilla bean, you guys can use vanilla extract as well. I just find that the vanilla bean flavor is just, it's just so much better, honestly. And then we're just going to add a little bit of milk. Now we're going to mix on low until everything is combined. Then you're going to speed the mixer up to high and whip for two to three minutes or until it's light and fluffy. You want to make sure that you scrape down the sides of the bowl partway through mixing. This is going to ensure that you have a smooth and creamy frosting. So now we're just going to transfer our frosting into a piping bag with a techo tip number 827. And so this is just an open star tip. If you guys have a different open star tip that you like or you have a closed star tip, that also works too. And if you guys don't have a piping bag, you could still just spoon the frosting right on top. That also works as well. So this is my favorite tool to fill a piping bag. This is what we use at my bakery. It's a milkshake cup and it works so good. If you guys don't have one of these, you guys can use a tall beer glass or also a vase works too. So now that we have our frosting made and our piping bag and our cupcakes are cooled, then it's time to frost them. So I'm just going to frost these with a simple swirl today. So if you guys are new to frosting cupcakes, here's a couple pointers from someone who owned a bakery for over a decade. So when you have your piping bag with your frosting, you want to make sure you're applying a lot of pressure. This is one of the biggest things that people do wrong when they're frosting cupcakes. So in order to apply a lot of pressure coming out, you want to twist the piping bag as much as you possibly can so that frosting is basically almost coming out of the tip. Then you want to make sure you're holding your piping bag straight up and down. Don't hold it at an angle like this. We don't want to hold it like that for frosting cupcakes. So as you're applying a lot of pressure and you're holding it straight up and down, you're going to go around the edge of the cupcake. Then as you go around, you're going to lift up as you reach the spot where you just started and then do that one more time. And then for finishing, my biggest trick is to make sure that you guys are done squeezing out the frosting before you lift up. If you guys lift up too soon, then your cupcake is going to have like a little spoof at the top and it's not going to look uniform. And now this last part is totally optional, but if you guys want to add a little bit of cane sugar and cinnamon into a small bowl and mix it up, you can sprinkle the top with a little bit of cinnamon sugar topping. And now these apple cinnamon cupcakes with vanilla bean buttercream frosting are ready to serve. These are sure to be a hit at any fall party. If you guys enjoyed this video, be sure to drop a like and leave a comment below. And if you want more easy recipes just like this from a former bakery owner, be sure to hit that subscribe button and join me next time in the kitchen.