The Best Delicious & Easy Apple Pie Cupcakes

What if you could capture all the beloved, warm, and cozy flavors of a classic, homemade apple pie—the tender, spiced apples, the buttery crust, and the creamy topping—all in one perfect, adorable, handheld treat? These incredible Apple Pie Cupcakes do just that, with a surprise pocket of gooey apple pie filling baked right into the center of a soft, spiced cupcake.

This isn’t just a recipe; it’s a guide to creating a fun, festive, and show-stopping dessert that brilliantly deconstructs a timeless classic. We’ll show you how to bake the most unbelievably soft and moist, spiced cupcakes, create a light-as-a-cloud, tangy sour cream whipped topping, and how to get that perfect pocket of apple pie filling in every single bite. This is a new holiday tradition in the making.

Recipe Overview: Your Favorite Pie, Reimagined!

What makes these Apple Pie Cupcakes so special is the brilliant way they capture the entire apple pie experience in a fun, individual format. The recipe features a from-scratch, warmly spiced butter cake that bakes up around a gooey, pre-cooked apple pie filling, creating a delightful surprise inside. The unique sour cream whipped topping is the perfect finishing touch—it’s lighter than a heavy buttercream but more stable and tangy than a simple whipped cream. It’s a make-ahead-friendly project that is as fun to make as it is to eat.

Metric	Time / Level
Total Time	1 hour 30 minutes (plus cooling time)
Active Prep Time	30 minutes
Difficulty Level	Easy
Servings	12 cupcakes

The Essential Ingredients for This Festive Treat

This recipe is made from three delicious, from-scratch components.

• The Gooey Apple Pie “Surprise” Filling: This is the sweet, juicy, and spiced heart of our cupcakes.
  • Baking Apples: For the best texture, you want to use a firm, crisp baking apple that will hold its shape during cooking and not turn to mush. Excellent choices include Granny Smith, Braeburn, Golden Delicious, or Honeycrisp.
  • The Cooked Filling: The professional secret to a perfect, jammy, non-watery apple filling is to pre-cook it on the stovetop first. This tenderizes the apples and thickens their juices with a little bit of flour, which is crucial to prevent the delicate cupcake from becoming soggy.
• The Soft and Spiced Cupcake: A wonderfully moist and tender butter cake.
  • Melted Butter & Room Temperature Eggs: Using melted butter makes the batter incredibly easy to mix, while room temperature eggs ensure a smooth, well-emulsified batter and a perfect, even crumb.
  • Warm Spices: A classic, cozy blend of ground cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg provides the perfect warm spice notes to complement the sweet apples.
• The Tangy Sour Cream Whipped Topping: This is a unique, light, and incredibly stable frosting.
  • Sour Cream: The secret ingredient! A tablespoon of full-fat sour cream adds a wonderful, bright tanginess that perfectly balances the sweetness of the cupcake. It also contains stabilizers that help the whipped cream to hold its beautiful, piped shape for much longer than a standard whipped cream.
  • Cold Heavy Cream: It is crucial that your heavy cream is very cold, straight from the refrigerator, to ensure that it whips up into beautiful, soft peaks.

Step-by-Step to the Perfect Apple Pie Cupcakes

This is a fun and rewarding baking project. Let’s break it down into simple, manageable parts.

Part 1: The Gooey Apple Pie Filling

Step 1: In a medium bowl, toss together the 3 peeled and diced apples, the 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar, the 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, the large pinch of ground cinnamon, and the pinch of fine salt.

Step 2: In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt the 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter. Add the apple mixture to the pan.

Step 3: Cook, stirring frequently, for about 6 minutes, until the apples are tender but still pliable and the liquid is simmering.

Step 4: Add the 2 teaspoons of all-purpose flour and stir until the flour dissolves and the liquid in the pan has thickened into a beautiful, glossy sauce.

Step 5: Remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the filling to a plate or a small bowl to let it cool completely. Once cooled, you can divide the filling into 12 small, packed mounds.

Part 2: Bake the Spiced Cupcakes

Step 1: Position an oven rack in the center of your oven and preheat to 350°F (175°C). Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Step 2: In a medium bowl, whisk together the 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, the 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, the 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, the 1/4 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg, and the 1/4 teaspoon of fine salt.

Step 3: In another medium bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the 3/4 cup of granulated sugar and the 2 large, room temperature eggs for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and creamy.

Step 4: While continuing to beat, gradually pour in the 1 1/2 sticks of melted unsalted butter, and then add the 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract.

Step 5: With the mixer on a medium-low speed, add half of the flour mixture, then add the 1/2 cup of milk, and then the remaining flour mixture. Be careful not to overmix the batter.

Pro Tip: The batter will be thin, similar to a pancake batter. For easy and mess-free pouring, you can transfer the finished batter to a large, liquid measuring cup.

Step 6: Divide the batter evenly among the 12 prepared muffin cups. Top each cup of raw batter with one of your prepared mounds of the cooled apple filling.

Step 7: Bake for 15 minutes. The cupcakes will begin to spread and puff up around the apple filling.

Step 8: After 15 minutes, carefully remove the tin from the oven. Gently brush the tops of the cupcakes with a little bit of melted butter and sprinkle them with some extra granulated sugar.

Step 9: Continue to bake for another 6 to 8 minutes, until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when you press them gently.

Step 10: Let the cupcakes cool in the tin for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Part 3: Whip the Tangy Sour Cream Topping & Assemble

Step 1: In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the 3/4 cup of very cold heavy cream, the 2 tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar, and the 1 tablespoon of sour cream until the mixture forms beautiful, soft peaks.

Step 2: Transfer the finished whipped topping to a pastry bag fitted with your favorite tip, or simply use a resealable plastic bag with the corner snipped off.

Step 3: Pipe a generous, beautiful dollop of the whipped topping onto each of the completely cooled cupcakes. For a final, festive touch, give each cupcake a light sprinkle of ground cinnamon.

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Storage and Make-Ahead Tips

These Apple Pie Cupcakes are a fantastic treat to make ahead for a party or a special occasion.

• Make-Ahead: You can make all the components separately in advance. The baked, unfrosted cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. The apple pie filling can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored, covered, in the refrigerator. The whipped topping is best made just before serving, but it can be made a few hours in advance and kept in the refrigerator.
• Storage: The finished, frosted cupcakes should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator because of the fresh whipped topping. They will stay fresh and delicious for up to 3 days.

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Creative Recipe Variations

1. Add a Nutty Crunch: For a delicious crunch that is a classic pairing with apples, you can fold 1/2 cup of finely chopped, toasted pecans or walnuts into the cupcake batter at the very end.
2. Add a Decadent Caramel Drizzle: For a “caramel apple pie” flavor, you can drizzle the finished, frosted cupcakes with a little bit of your favorite store-bought or homemade salted caramel sauce.
3. Make a Classic Cream Cheese Frosting: If you prefer a richer, tangier topping, these cupcakes are also absolutely fantastic when topped with a classic cream cheese frosting instead of the lighter whipped topping.

Enjoy Your New Favorite Fall Cupcake!

You’ve just created a wonderfully fun, creative, and delicious dessert that is sure to be the star of your fall baking season. These Apple Pie Cupcakes are a perfect harmony of a classic, tender spice cake, a gooey apple pie filling, and a light, tangy topping. It’s a sweet and simple way to celebrate the cozy flavors of the season in a perfect, individual-sized package.

We hope you and your family love making—and eating—this delicious new tradition!

If you enjoyed making this recipe, please leave a comment below or share it with a friend who loves a fun and creative baking project!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1: What is sour cream whipped cream, and why is it used here? Sour cream whipped cream is a simple but brilliant baker’s trick! By adding just a small amount of full-fat sour cream to your heavy cream as you whip it, you are doing two things. First, you are adding a wonderful, bright tanginess that is a fantastic flavor contrast to the sweet cupcake. Second, the stabilizers and the thickness of the sour cream help to make the whipped cream much more stable, meaning it will hold its beautiful, piped shape for much longer than a standard whipped cream without weeping or deflating.

Q2: Can I make these cupcakes ahead of time for a party? Yes! The best make-ahead method is to prepare all the components separately and store them as directed in the “Make-Ahead Tips” section above. Then, you can have a fun, easy, and stress-free assembly and decorating session on the day of your party, which will give you the freshest-tasting result with the most beautiful whipped topping.

Q3: Why do you put the apple filling on top of the raw batter instead of filling the baked cupcakes? This is a clever and easy technique for getting a “filled” cupcake without a coring step! As the thin cupcake batter bakes in the oven, it puffs up and bakes around the heavier, dense apple filling. This creates a beautiful, natural pocket of the gooey apple filling right in the center of the finished cupcake.

Q4: What are the best apples to use for the filling? For a cooked filling like this one, you want to use a firm baking apple that will hold its shape during cooking and not turn into a mushy applesauce. A firm, sweet apple like a Braeburn, Golden Delicious, Pink Lady, or Fuji is a fantastic choice for this recipe.

Q5: Can I use a different topping instead of the whipped cream? Of course! These cupcakes are also absolutely delicious with a classic, tangy cream cheese frosting, a rich caramel buttercream, or even just a simple dusting of powdered sugar.