If I've learned nothing else, it's that fall brings apples... in fact, more apples than one can reasonably be expected to know what to do with. Something else that's always in plentiful supply is housework. So what do you get when you have too many apples and a messy house?

Apple cupcakes that take an entire afternoon to make, and dirty every dish in the kitchen!

After all, the best thing to do with any excess sweet ingredient is make a cake. And I know that baking all afternoon may sound like a burden to some, but to me, the equation is simple:
baking something complicated > cleaning.

At this time, right around Halloween, I was craving a cake that combined apples and caramel but still had a real frosting, preferably cream cheese. Such a recipe did not exist on the entire Internet, so I had to make one up. I'll admit: this is my first-ever original cake recipe. I will also admit that it rocks. Hard-core.

Since there's plenty of sugar in the caramel and frosting, the cake itself is not too sweet. The buttermilk tang of the cake carries through the caramel, which behaves more like an icing than a candy so it is fairly easy to manipulate as you put the "surprise" inside each cake. And unless you actually says "These are Apple Surprise Cupcakes" out loud, no one will suspect that caramelly goodness.

And if you thought the house was messy before...

 Apple Surprise Cupcakes
A Burghilicious Original

Makes 18-20 cupcakes

For the cake:
2 cups tart apple chunks (1/4 - 1/2 inch)*
1 teaspoon cinnamon, divided
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two muffin tins with 18-20 paper liners, or butter and flour cups generously.

In a small bowl, toss apple chunks** with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and reserve.***

In a moderately larger bowl, whisk together remaining cinnamon, flour, baking powder, baking soda, ginger and allspice.

In the largest bowl yet - perhaps the bowl of your mixer - beat together butter and brown sugar until fluffy. With the mixer on, add the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until fully incorporated before adding the next. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat until just combined, then add 1/2 of the buttermilk and beat that until just combined. Repeat until all the flour mixture and buttermilk have been incorporated.

Fill cups 2/3 - 3/4 full. Bake for 25-35 minutes, until firm and a toothpick comes out clean. Depending on how your oven bakes, you may want to rotate or swap your muffin tins halfway through. Remove from pans and cool on a wire rack. While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the caramel.

For the caramel:
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)

In a small saucepan, combine buttermilk, sugar and butter over medium-low heat. Stir the mixture constantly until the sugar has dissolved, then just let it cook, undisturbed, until it is deep brown, thick and bubbly (but not stringy). If you have a candy thermometer, you're aiming for 240 degrees F.

Remove the caramel from heat and transfer to a mixing bowl. Use an electric mixer to beat the caramel to icing consistency.

When the cupcakes are cool, use a small paring knife to cut a dime-size divot about an inch deep in the center of each one. Reserve the pieces you remove in a small bowl. Fill the divot with caramel, smoothing the top of each caramel "plug" so it matches the top of the cupcake. This will make frosting easier! Let rest until the caramel has firmed up and cooled down - maybe 10 minutes.

While the caramel-filled cupcakes cool once more, make the frosting.

For the frosting:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar (sift it if it's too lumpy)

Using an electric mixer, beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add vanilla. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating just until combined between each addition. Do not overbeat the frosting or it will be too loose to spread.

Crumble the leftover cake pieces - you know, the ones you cut out of the cupcakes - into pretty little crumbs.**** Get out any little apple pieces and eat them, since they don't crumble so well. Give each cupcake a healthy dollop of cream cheese icing and top with cake crumbs.

*I used Granny Smiths, but feel free to explore any firm, tart apple for this.
**I use Fruit Fresh, which is essentially straight pectin, to keep the apples from getting brown while they are hanging out. Fruit Fresh is  located either with the canning stuff or the spices at the grocery store. It's great for tarts and fruit salads, too.
***"They" say that tossing apple chunks in something dry helps to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the cakes. However, "they" usually suggest flour, and I will not follow "them" blindly. Hence, cinnamon. And it works.
****If I was even more serious about dirtying every dish, I would make a real streusel. But even I have limits.