It’s FALL!  By far my favorite time of year!  Well, not “by far”… but maybe a smidgin above Spring.  And Fall just happens to be my dear Hubby’s birthday season.  I surprised him at work with the quintessential fall cupcakes, reminiscent of cool days, blowing leaves, juicy apples….and, of course, creamy caramel…mmmmmm.

I baked up a batch of moist brown sugar cakes…nothing beats brown sugar to give a deep, rich flavor to any cake.  Then I used fresh apples, cinnamon, and more brown sugar to make a sweet and buttery apple pie filling….and then mixed in some homemade caramel sauce, just for good measure. After squeezing as much juicy filling as I could into each cupcake, I topped them all off with a swirl of cinnamon-caramel buttercream and a dash of cinnamon.   Soooooo good!  Welcome back, Fall…I missed you.