Halloween Pumpkin Spiced Applesauce Spider Cupcakes
Halloween Pumpkin Spiced Applesauce Spider Cupcakes are a fun, seasonal dessert that your kids will not only have fun making, but eating too. The secret to the flavor in the cupcakes comes from the applesauce.
There is only one season I look forward to as much as Christmas and that is fall. What’s not to love? The cooler weather (I live in the Arizona desert, you understand) pumpkins, Halloween and all of the fall produce, in particular the apples.
With Halloween, applesauce and pumpkins on my mind, all of these were factors that inspired me to come up with these cupcakes. Applesauce is a delicious and seasonal way to add moisture and natural sweetness to these cupcakes.
Just as an aside, as you may need to fend off your neighbors, my kitchen smelled like pumpkin pie when the cupcakes were baking.
The frosting for the cupcakes is cream cheese with a little pumpkin pie spice to mirror the pumpkin spice in the applesauce and drive home the pumpkin/fall feeling.
I had a lot of fun with these cupcakes. I have many Halloween-themed recipes on my website from skulls to scorpions and now spiders.
Check out these other fun, Halloween recipes (click on text for links) Halloween Brownie Graveyard, Skull and Dagger Cake, Halloween Popcorn.
If you’ve tried this Halloween Pumpkin Spiced Applesauce Spider Cupcakes or any other recipe on the blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how they turned out in the comments below. I love to hear from my readers!
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Halloween Pumpkin Spiced Applesauce Spider Cupcakes
Ingredients
For the cupcakes:
- ½ cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature for 1 hour
- ¾ cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- ¾ cup applesauce
- 1 ¾ cups (162 grams) all-purpose/plain flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup (78 ml) whole milk, room temperature
For the frosting:
- 1 cup (8 ounces/225 grams) cream cheese, softened at room temperature for 1 hour
- ½ cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature for 1 hour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups (260 grams) powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
Make the cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C. Line a 12-muffin tin with liners.
- To a bowl add the butter and sugar. Beat on high until light and pale using an electric mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat until mixed. Mix in the applesauce. Add the flour, baking powder, pumpin pie spice and salt to a separate bowl and mix well. With the mixer on low add little dry mix to the wet mix, alternate with a little milk until all the flour and milk are used. Mix until well-combined and smooth. Don't over mix. Use an ice cream scoop and divide the batter between all the cups, a little over halfway filled.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. When a toothpick inserted in the center it should come out clean.
- Remove from the oven, remove the cupcakes from the pan and cool on a wire rack.
Make the frosting:
- Beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer, add the vanilla, mix well. Slowly add powdered sugar while beating. Add the pumpkin pie spice and mix well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to make topping the cupcakes easier.
- Top the cooled cupcakes with the frosting.
In the ingredients it does not say to use pumpkin purée but in the directions it tells you to star in the pumpkin later on it says add the pumpkin spice so definitely missing something here
There is no pumpkin in this recipe, just applesauce and pumpkin pie spice.
My daughter sent me this recipe and decided she wants a spooky spider halloween party so we will be making these. They look amazing, I hope we can re create them.
It sounds like a fun party. Enjoy the party and the cupcakes.
What a great idea to use the flavored applesauce for these cupcakes. I can’t wait to make them with my kids.
Thank you, they are so good and the applesauce makes them moist. You’re kids will have fun with these.