Ever have a recipe you dream in your head for weeks before it comes to be? Well, I have been imagining these wonderful cupcakes for ages. You know I’m obsessed with salted caramel, and I’ve been overdue to put my favorite thing into a cupcake, (my other favorite thing.) What better to pair with salted caramel than dark chocolate right? That’s what I’m thinkin…
These start with my favorite one-bowl chocolate cupcake, made with lots of dark chocolate cocoa powder. Using a paring knife I carved out a small little area of the center of each cake and spooned in some salted caramel. After replacing the little cake top, I swirled on some salted caramel butter cream. The nice thing about the frosting swirl is that it leaves a little area on the top of the frosting that is perfect for fillings and toppings. In this case I added a dollop of dark chocolate ganache and a sprinkle of fleur de sel. In my opinion- perfection!
On a normal day, I would whip up a batch of this easy salted caramel from scratch. It is not hard to make and oh so delicious. On the day that I made dozens of these for birthday party though, I was majorly pressed for time. I knew I needed a shortcut in order to get this done in time. So- I picked up a handy jar of Trader Joes Salted Caramel Sauce and went to town. It was the perfect “in-a-pinch” ingredient for filling these babies and also mixing into the frosting. The next time I make these, I hope to have time to make the caramel from scratch though, just because I like to complicate things like that!
- ¾ cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder (regular is fine too)
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ cups sugar
- 1½ teaspoons baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup warm water
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 3 tablespoons canola/vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1½-2 cups salted caramel sauce*
- 2 sticks unsalted butter- softened
- 4-6 cups of powdered sugar
- cream or milk as needed
- 5 oz. of dark chocolate- chopped
- ½ cup heavy cream
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside.
- Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl.
- 'Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.
- Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each ⅔ full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.
- Place chopped dark chocolate in a small bowl. On medium-high heat, warm the heavy cream until it boils and right away pour it over the chocolate.
- Leave it for 5 minutes and then stir mixture until it is thick and creamy. Allow to cool to room temperature by either letting it sit for 30-45 minute OR speed it up in the freezer (what I did.)
- When the cupcakes are cooled, use a paring knife to carve a cone shape into the top of each cupcake. Slice off the very top of the removed part and set aside.
- Fill with a tablespoon of caramel sauce and place the top back on. Repeat with the rest of the cupcakes and set aside to make frosting.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to whip the butter until it is creamy and pale. Add 4 cups of the powdered sugar, a little at a time until frosting is thick and paste like.
- Add ½ cup of salted caramel sauce and mix on medium-high speed until frosting is thick and well combined. Add the milk or cream a tablespoon at a time, until the frosting is creamy and good piping/spreading consistency.
- Spoon or drizzle the ganache onto the frosted cupcakes and sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Chocolate cupcake recipe adapted from Martha Stewart
Carla says
May 14, 2012 at 10:26 amOh you put all of my fav words in one sentence! Love chocolate, love salted caramel, love cupcakes :) great recipe and I love how you fill the frosting too.
Blog is the New BLack says
May 14, 2012 at 10:31 amHoly deliciousness!
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
May 14, 2012 at 12:11 pmI am in love. Oh my!
Samantha says
May 14, 2012 at 12:38 pmBeautiful!
Averie Cooks says
May 14, 2012 at 3:18 pmwow…I can’t even imagine how good these must be! Their reputation clearly lived up to their dream you had about them!
Cassie Laemmli says
May 14, 2012 at 3:24 pmOh my goodness, that frosting! I love salted caramel anything and I am in love with these already!
Georgia The Comfort of Cooking says
May 14, 2012 at 4:43 pmWow, Audra! I think you just made my dream dessert a reality! These look insane.
Bee says
May 14, 2012 at 4:48 pmSalted caramel is fantastic. And these cupcakes are so pretty and gourmet looking!
IrmaSDean says
May 14, 2012 at 8:04 pmhttp://goo.gl/y9HBT
Mai Nguyen says
May 14, 2012 at 8:20 pmI have yet to try salted caramel. I know. I’m missing out. Plus dark chocolate? YUM!!
Becca Looney says
May 15, 2012 at 2:27 amI’ve never tried salted caramel anything, but I love the look of gooey/runny caramel. It makes me lick my lips with anticipationg. Not to mention when biting into that cupcake and a pool of the caramel comes out :) YUM!
Spencer says
May 15, 2012 at 5:04 amLooks absolutely delicious! I reckon I could eat a whole plateful of them in about 10 minutes flat!
Itsgoodtobethecook says
May 15, 2012 at 1:10 pmOMG these look like the most delicious, decadent cupcakes ever
Laura loves cakes says
May 15, 2012 at 7:25 pmWow these look amazingly decadent…I want one!!!! The pool of salted caramel looks divine!! :-)
Amys_Cooking_Adventures says
May 15, 2012 at 8:01 pmYummy! I recently tried salted caramel buttercream for the first time & I’m in love! SO glad to have seen this recipe!
Chung-Ah | Damn Delicious says
May 16, 2012 at 10:27 amWow, these look absolutely dangerous! I want to swim in that tiny pool of caramel there.
Marsha @ The Harried Cook says
May 18, 2012 at 3:01 amThat looks so good! Love salted caramel & this is probably my perfect cupcake… love the filling in there… thanks for sharing! :)
HudsonRunner says
June 27, 2012 at 5:57 pmI made these a week ago for a family dinner…they got all eaten!! They cake was so good and moist (especially since I had never made this particular recipe before). I made my own caramel sauce (from another site). These were absolutely divine! My dad who is the “family baker” of fudge & cookies and bars, said he really liked them! This is going in my to make again book:) Thanks for such a great and relatively easy recipe!
melissa s says
October 2, 2012 at 11:01 amThank you so much for sharing! I made the frosting using the sauce from Trader Joe’s. HUGE time saver. My friends went nuts over the cupcakes – especially the frosting.