Hard Apple Cider Cupcakes

Name: Hard Apple Cider Cupcakes
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 3 cups hard apple cider; 15.25oz box spice cake mix; 3 large eggs; 1/3 cup vegetable oil; 1/2 cup salted butter (room temperature); 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 3 cups confectioners' sugar

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These Hard apple cider cupcakes are boozy, delicious, and so much fun! I used a boxed cake mix in this recipe to make these boozy cupcakes so simple and easy to make, but they still taste homemade, and the frosting is absolutely out of this world.

Ingredients for hard apple cider cupcakes

Hard apple cider: Any brand will do. This will flavor the cupcakes and the frosting so you definitely want to pick one that you like. And if you want to take the alcohol out of these cupcakes completely, just swap in regular apple cider.
Spice Cake Mix: This is the base of the cupcakes. You can choose any brand as long as the mix is 15.25 ounces. If you get a different size box cake mix you will need to modify the ingredients to match the amount of eggs and oil it calls for, and however much water the cake mix calls for swap in the reduced hard cider.
Cinnamon: Apples and cinnamon are the perfect combination, so you have to have this in your frosting. It brings out the apple flavor

Making the hard apple cider cupcakes

Reducing the cider: The first step is to reduce the hard apple cider on the stove. This takes a little bit of time but it's essential to the recipe because it boils out a lot of the water in the cider and enhances the flavor. You start with 3 cups of liquid, but you want to end up with 1 ¼ cups of cider. This takes me about 30 minutes of simmering on the stove

Making the batter: Once the cider is reduced the rest of the cupcake recipe is super simple. You just combine the spice cake mix, 1 cup of reduced cider, the eggs, and the oil. Then divide it up among the cupcake liners and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Making the frosting

Combine the remaining hard apple cider, butter, cinnamon and vanilla extract in a large bowl and beat until creamy. Then add in the powdered sugar and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Then pipe or spread the frosting on your cupcakes. Decorate as desierd, and serve.

Recipe

Hard Apple Cider Cupcakes

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A boozy cupcake recipe perfect for fall

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 24 cupcakes
Category: Dessert

Ingredients

3 cups hard apple cider
15.25oz box spice cake mix
3 large eggs
⅓ cup vegetable oil
½ cup salted butter (room temperature)
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners' sugar

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Instructions

Add the hard cider to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and then simmer until the liquid has been reduced to 1¼ cups (this took me 30 minutes). Let cider cool completely.
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl combine the cake mix, eggs, vegetable oil, and 1 cup of reduced hard cider. Mix together until well incorporated.
Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners. Pour the batter into the paper liners, filling each liner about ⅔ full.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Let cool completely.
Make the frosting: Add the room temperature butter to a large bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Add in the cinnamon, vanilla extract and remaining ¼ cup hard apple cider and beat until combined. Slowly add in the powdered sugar until it is fully incorporated.
Transfer the frosting to a piping bag or zip-top bag. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.
Enjoy!

Other Boozy Desserts

If you are like me, and love to bake with different alcohols, try my Boozy Irish Brownies or Irish Cream Sugar Cookies. Or for something more ambitious check out this Pink Champagne Cake recipe I did for Mashed.

Jessica Morone

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