Salted Caramel Cupcakes

​Salted caramel confections are popping up all over the place lately.  It's the new trend in chocolate bars, ice cream shops and even cupcakes.  Even though I'm generally not a huge fan of salty and sweet flavors blended together, there's something about a salted caramel that I just find irresistible.  I found this recipe for Salted Caramel Cupcakes in my Cupcakes book by Shelly Kaldunski last year and I started to advertise them on my facebook page.  Apparently I'm not the only one jumping on the salted caramel bandwagon because ever since their first facebook appearance, I've gotten all sorts of orders for these cupcakes.

Salted Caramel Cupcakes
1 1/4 cups flour                                            1/2 cup butter
3/4 teaspoons baking powder                    2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt                                          1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup dark brown sugar                              1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar                                                12 caramels for decoration

​Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.  Beat sugars and butter together.

Add eggs and vanilla.
​

​Add flour mixture alternating with milk.

Divide batter between 12 muffin cups.  

​Bake 20 minutes at 350.  Cool 1 hour.

Caramel Buttercream
2 egg whites
1/3 cup sugar
12 Tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
6 caramels, melted and cooled

​Combine egg whites and sugar in the bowl of mixer and heat over a double boiler.  Whisk until frothy and warm to the touch.

​Move mixing bowl to mixer and whip 1-2 minutes or until the consistency of shaving cream.

​Add butter 1 tablespoon at a time while continuing to beat.  Beat in vanilla.

​Stir in melted caramel with a rubber scraper and fold.  

​

Put caramel buttercream into a piping bag.

​To top each cupcake, I made a salted caramel by dipping a caramel into milk chocolate and then sprinkling it with sea salt.  

Even though these cupcakes were in mini size, they packed a whole lot of punch into one or two bites.  

Ciao!

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