A high altitude recipe for spiced maple cupcakes, frosted with maple cream cheese buttercream, and topped with a maple leaf sugar cookie. These pretty fall cupcakes taste like pancakes on a cool autumn day!
You might also love these high altitude recipes for soft maple cookies, maple walnut cake, and maple macadamia nut biscotti.
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Why You’ll Love These Cupcakes
Easy to Make. You’ll need a mixer for the cream cheese buttercream, but the cupcake batter comes together quickly with a bowl and whisk.
Fall Flavors. These cupcakes are full of so much flavor, with nutty brown butter, brown sugar, maple extract and cozy fall spices.
High Altitude Tested. I test all the recipes on this site at Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- Unsalted Butter. Adds moisture and richness. And for a rich, nutty flavor, I start by browning the butter first.
- Eggs. Gives the cupcakes structure.
- Milk. Whole milk adds moisture and fat, and keeps the cupcakes tender and soft.
- Sugar. A combination of granulated sugar and light brown sugar adds sweetness and moisture.
- Flour. All-purpose flour adds structure and strength.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent, to make the cupcakes rise as they bake.
- Spices. Vanilla extract and maple extract add flavor, and salt balances the sweetness and enhances the flavor of the maple. A blend of cozy spices like cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg adds warmth.
Buttercream
- Cream Cheese + Butter. When making cream cheese frosting, use half cream cheese and half butter for a more stable frosting.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the buttercream.
- Meringue Powder. Adds stability and improves the texture.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Vanilla + Maple Extracts. Flavor.
- Cinnamon Sugar. For sprinkling over the cupcakes.
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line your muffin pan/s with 14 paper liners.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter until nutty, golden brown solids form at the bottom of the pan, which should take about 5 minutes. You’ll know the butter is just about ready when a layer of foam forms on top of the butter and it stops hissing and splattering. Remove the pan from the heat, use a spatula to scrape the butter and all the browned bits into a bowl, and let cool for 10 minutes.
- To the browned butter, add the eggs, milk, brown sugar, vanilla extract and maple extract, and whisk until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, granulated sugar, salt, baking powder and spices.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and whisk until smooth.
- Divide the batter between the paper liners, filling them no more than 2/3 – 3/4 full.
- Bake the cupcakes on the center oven rack for about 18 minutes, until the centers of the cupcakes spring back when gently touched, or a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pans for several minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt. With the mixer running on low, add the powdered sugar mixture by spoonfuls to the butter, mixing just until combined.
- Add the vanilla and maple extracts, and increase the speed to medium. Whip the buttercream for about 3-4 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until fluffy.
- Fit a piping bag with tip 1M, fill with the buttercream, and pipe onto the cupcakes. Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar, and top with a maple leaf sugar cookie.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common questions with cake making, so that you can be successful in your own baking! I also suggest reading these comprehensive posts on making Perfect American Buttercream, How to Stack, Fill, Crumb Coat and Frost Layer Cakes and How to Use Piping Bags.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use maple syrup instead of maple extract?
First, maple extract has a very concentrated maple flavor, and a teaspoon of maple syrup wouldn’t be enough to make the cupcakes taste like maple. So, no, the two ingredients are not interchangeable. Two, for the recipe to use maple syrup – and enough of it to really flavor the cupcakes with maple – requires more recipe testing, since it’s not just a simple matter of replacing some of the sugar with maple syrup. If you’re looking for this option, I will update the recipe in the future if I test it with maple syrup.
How can I make the maple leaf cookies?
You can get the recipe for my maple leaf sugar cookies here.
Do these cupcakes need to be refrigerated?
Whenever you frost cake or cupcakes with cream cheese buttercream, I recommend refrigerating them to keep the cream cheese cool. Let the cupcakes come to room temperature for several hours before serving.
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High Altitude Spiced Maple Cupcakes
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Standard-Sized Muffin Pan
- Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup whole milk
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp maple extract
- 1 ½ cups + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
Buttercream
- 4 oz (1/2 brick) full fat cream cheese, softened for 1 hour
- 4 oz (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder (optional)
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp maple extract
- 2 tsp cinnamon/sugar, for decorating
- mini maple leaf sugar cookies, for decorating
Instructions
Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line your muffin pan/s with 14 paper liners.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter until nutty, golden brown solids form at the bottom of the pan, which should take about 5 minutes. You'll know the butter is just about ready when a layer of foam forms on top of the butter and it stops hissing and splattering.Remove the pan from the heat, use a spatula to scrape the butter and all the browned bits into a bowl, and let cool for 10 minutes.
- To the browned butter, add the eggs, milk, brown sugar, vanilla extract and maple extract, and whisk until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, granulated sugar, salt, baking powder and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and whisk until smooth.
- Divide the batter between the paper liners, filling them no more than 2/3 – 3/4 full.
- Bake the cupcakes on the center oven rack for about 18 minutes, until the centers of the cupcakes spring back when gently touched, or a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool the cupcakes in the pans for several minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Buttercream
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, combine the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt. With the mixer running on low, add the powdered sugar mixture by spoonfuls to the butter, mixing just until combined.
- Add the vanilla and maple extracts, and increase the speed to medium. Whip the buttercream for about 3-4 minutes, scraping the bowl several times, until fluffy.
- Fit a piping bag with tip 1M, fill with the buttercream, and pipe onto the cupcakes. Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar, and top with a maple leaf sugar cookie.
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