Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Happy Monday everyone! Sorry for not posting much lately. My husband and I were given a months notice that he'll be deploying--so you can only imagine how hectic everything is around here. Due to him deploying, I thought now would be a great time to make one of his favorite cupcakes. I've never messed with caramel before and wasn't very excited about it going into it. Chocolate is my choice of ingredient, but not today! My thoughts were correct though--I hate working with caramel! The cake is delicious and so is the frosting, but it took many attempts to get the caramel for the frosting. I burnt the first three batches of it. Luckily, the fourth one came out. I also tried to make a caramel filling. Well, all was going well until I went to fill the cupcakes. I tasted the filling and it tasted burnt. I ended up just filling the cupcakes with Hershey's Caramel Syrup for ice cream. It gave the cake a nice boost of flavor! The cake recipe would go great with other frostings. I'd make the frosting again...just not anytime soon! This cupcake was the PERFECT mixture of sweet and salty!

Ingredients:

Caramel Cupcake:

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
* 2 large eggs, at room temperature
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk

Salted Caramel Frosting:

* 1/4 cup granulated sugar
* 2 tablespoons water
* 1/4 cup heavy cream
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 stick salted butter
* 1 stick unsalted butter
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Cupcake:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Sift  flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

2. Cream butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until pale fluffy.

3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. 

4. Add vanilla. Mix and scrape down sides of bowl as needed.

5.  Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each.

6. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about halfway full. Bake for about 25 minutes. When done, transfer tins to cooling racks to cool 10 minutes.

Frosting: (If you want to pipe the icing, make sure you make a batch and a half of frosting. I didn't feel  like using a bunch of ingredients so I just piped some and then frosted the rest with a knife.)

1. In a saucepan, stir together granulated sugar and water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cook without stirring until you notice the mixture turning an amber color--then start to stir.. Remove from heat when you notice the amber color turning a darker yellow/brown. I removed it sooner than later because I didn't want my fourth batch to burn.

2. After you remove from heat, slowly add in cream and vanilla, stirring until very smooth. Let caramel cool for about 20 minutes, until it is just barely warm and still pourable.

3. In a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and salt together until lightened and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add powdered sugar. Mix until thoroughly combined.

4. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the caramel. Beat on medium high speed until light and airy, and completely mixed . If you think it is too salty, add 1/2 cup more sifted powder sugar (that's what I had to do).  Mixture should be ready to use without refrigeration. If your caramel was too hot when added, it will cause your icing to be runny. If this happens refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.

5. Top caramel-filled cupcakes with frosting. I added the Hershey's Caramel Sauce due to I was sick of messing with caramel by this point!

*cupcakes adapted from Sprinkle Bakes