Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes: Cake vs. Pie, can't we just be friends?

There is an eons old battle constantly raging between dessert lovers. Families divided, friendships ended. The ultimate question of sweets...

Cake or Pie?

Now, in the past, I have always sided firmly on the pie side as I truly think that pumpkin pie is one of the greatest foods ever created. But today, I bring to you a new question....

Why choose at all?

I got the recipe for these Apple Cinnamon cupcakes from The Cupcake Project, the same place I found the Root Beer Cupcake recipe. I promise that I do occasionally bake things that don't come from Stef's site, but she has so many delicious flavors to try, it's hard to resist! I used her cinnamon cream cheese frosting recipe, as recommended by one of the wedding couples she has baked for.

Oh My Goodness. These are amazing. It literally takes all of the things that you love about apple pie and puts them in cake form. Fresh out of the oven, without frosting, I could have sworn that I was eating an apple pie. The cinnamon cream cheese frosting is also spectacular, and as I had quite a bit leftover (since I didn't do big swirls on these) I've been snacking on it by the spoonful for the better part of the week. Or on graham crackers, that's another favorite.

Anyway, without further ado...

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes

Apparently Stef got 16 cupcakes out of this recipe. I got 21. Not sure where the discrepancy is, but I think I filled my liners a little lower than she did. And I just seem to always get more than  most people do when it comes to baked goods. My measuring cups must be super-size or something.

• 2 sticks of butter
• 1 C + 2 T of sugar
• 2 C flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 C applesauce (unsweetened)
• 1 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1 C finely chopped apples (I used fuji, but I'm interested to try it with a more tart variety like granny smith...)

Cream together the butter, sugar, flour and eggs with an electric mixer. Stir in apple sauce, cinnamon and finally the chopped apple bits. Fill the cupcake liners all the way to the top (these cupcakes do not have a significant rise). Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

I chose the cinnamon cream cheese frosting for a couple reasons. 1) Stef used it for a wedding, therefore it must be awesome. 2) I love cream cheese frosting and wanted to make it. 3) I had some cream cheese in the fridge that I wanted to use before it got too far past its expiration date and 4) I have no idea where to go about finding mead, and what I would do with the rest of it that I didn't use for the frosting. After making it and running into the living room with a spoonful for The Gamer to try, I remembered the dilemma I had with my rootbeer cupcakes, with the delicious frosting overwhelming the delicious cupcake. This frosting, being cream cheese based, was if anything stronger than the buttercream I'd made before. Which is why I chose the lattice-type decorations for the top. Plus, I thought it was a nice homage to the whole "this is a pie in disguise" thing. Like the top of an apple pie? Right? Anyway. Here's how you make it. It's super easy, I promise.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting from  The Cupcake Project

• 8 oz. of cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/4 C (half a stick) of butter, room temperature
• 1 t of vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 t cinnamon (add more to taste)
• 2-3 C powdered sugar (add more or less to achieve desired consistency

Mix the cream cheese and the butter thoroughly. Add the vanilla and the cinnamon, then add the powdered sugar until you have it at the spreadable consistency that you want. I left this a little more on the gooey side because, well, I like gooey things. Like underbaked cake. Mmm, underbaked cake....

Overall, these were a gigantic success and I want to make them again, even though I still have some left-overs in my freezer (they freeze awesomely by the way). I do want to try them with granny smith apples to see how the contrast of the sweet cake and the tart apple works out. I'm also playing with a sparkling-cider frosting (because I've seen champagne frostings, why not sparkling cider?) to see if that adds a little of decadence to them... but they're pretty much awesome they way that they were.