Oh my, those sound and look awesome! Do you have a shareable recipe?
Probably I should write it down! I usually don't use cake mixes, but thought that they would work in this case and they did.
Cupcake recipe
1 box duncan hines Spice cake mix
1 cup apple butter
1 cup water
2 eggs
2 tbls vegetable oil.
Beat together wet ingredients, add the mix and beat until smooth. Bake in standard size cupcake pan lined with paper liners @ 350 for approx 15-18 minutes, until tests done.
for the caramel I used this.
this can also be made by taking a can of sweetened condensed milk, peeling off the label and placing in a pan of simmering water for 4 hours, making sure that you add water to the pan so that it doesn't dry out.
I made a variation on a roux buttercream.
1 cup milk
1/4 cup flour
combine flour and milk in sauce pan, and whisk to combine. Turn heat to medium and whisk constantly until the mixture thickens like pudding. Once it thickens let boil for one minute to rid the mixture of flour flavor. remove from heat and spread out on a plate and press plastic wrap over the top to prevent a skin. let cool to room temp.
In the bowl of a mixer combine 2 sticks unsalted softened butter, 1/2 tsp salt, and a tsp vanilla, beat till fluffy. Add 2-3 cups powdered sugar (to taste) and 1 tsp cinnamon, beat until fluffy and smooth. Add the cooled roux and beat on high for a couple minutes until very fluffy.
To assemble.
I took a cooled cupcake and cut out a divot in the top, enough for a couple tsp of caramel. Then with a pastry bag (or zip top bag) filled with the caramel, I piped the caramel into the divot to fill. Then simply make a swirl of buttercream on the top, or spread generously with a spatula.