Cinnamon Spice Cupcakes with Apple Cream Cheese Frosting

For the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar for 1-2 minutes or until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Set aside.

In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. Set aside.

Beat the egg whites and the egg into the butter/sugar mixture one at a time, alternating with dry ingredient mixture. Then stir in milk slowly.

Line a 12-count cupcake pan (**) with liners and fill each one approximately 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before frosting.

For the apple frosting:
Peel, core, and cut apple into large chunks. In a blender or food processor, puree apple until it resembles chunky applesauce. It should not be a completely liquid consistency and should have small chunks of apple in it.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until combined. Stir in apple puree until completely combined. Frost the cooled cupcakes.

** The batter in this recipe is thick and only produced 14 large cupcakes. I would suggest doubling the recipe if you want to make the 24 cupcakes that usually come from a cake recipe.