Salted Caramel Cupcakes

I can't remember exactly what started my quest for the perfect salted caramel cupcake.  I think my first real salted caramel dessert experience was courtesy of my friend Meredith, although they don't seem to be on her blog.  My quest was a salted caramel cupcake to die for.  This is attempt number two, and it is well worth the effort.  It is a caramel cupcake with caramel filling, salted caramel frosting, and a sugar decoration.  Most of this is based of of the Triple Salted Caramel Cupcakes on Sprinkle Bakes.

My first attempt at a salted caramel cupcake used a white cake recipe and I just wasn't happy with it.  It didn't have enough pizazz and the texture was too fine.  I typically like the texture of this cupcake, but in this case, it just didn't match the frosting. For my second attempt, I used a caramel cake mix and followed my go to box based cake recipe that I used in my red velvet cupcakes.  I used a vanilla pudding mix for that recipe.

 

Update 7/16/2013: Forget the Caramel Cake, this is amazing with Chocolate Cake!  Use the same recipe with a Devil's Food cake mix and a dark chocolate pudding mix.  The combination of the chocolate cake and salted caramel frosting is in the running for my favorite cupcake ever, although there is some stiff competition.

 

I've gotten in the habit of  sifting my cake mixes.  Occasionally I find some sugar chunks in the cake mixes.  I don't actually put them through a sifter, just whisk them through a colander.

The rest of the recipe is really forgiving, just dump everything in and mix.

Have I mentioned that my husband is wonderful?  My Kitchen Aid mixer has to be my favorite Christmas present ever.  I'm also a big fan of my birthday (or was it anniversary) glass mixing bowl.  How pretty!

I also really like my 1.5 oz. portion scoop.  It seems to be about right for a smallish cupcake. 

One batch of cake makes about 24 cupcakes.

I'm not very good at keeping track of how long I bake my cupcakes.  I've settled on 325 degrees and  bake until a toothpick come out with a few crumbs.  If it comes out clean, they are probably too dry. 

My original attempt at salted caramel cupcakes had some caramel in the center, but I really don't think that was necessary.  For that, I cored the cupcakes and put in a little dollop.  If I did this again, I would make it thin enough to pipe a little into the cupcake.  For the caramel in the frosting, I used my mom's caramel dip recipe. 

This is really simple.  Unwrap a package of KRAFT caramels and put in a microwave safe bowl.  Yes, the brand is important.  I've tried others and it takes a lot longer for this to come together.  It is worth finding the Kraft brand.  Once you have the caramels unwrapped, add a sticks of butter and a can of sweetened condensed milk.

Microwave on high, stirring frequently until it is smooth.  Let this cool to room temperature before starting your frosting.  You can put it in the fridge.

My frosting is closely related to Sprinkle Bakes version. Instead of making their caramel, I used the caramel dip. 

Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting:


1 stick salted butter
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
~ 1/4 recipe Caramel Dip
I found the original recipe much too thin and buttery, so I added quite a bit more powdered sugar.  Cream the salted and unsalted butter and add sea salt.  Mix in the powdered sugar and caramel until you get a flavor and consistency that you like.  My husband wasn't sold on the salty frosting, but I loved it!

I like to frost using Wilton tip 1M.  If you want a softer frosting, I would recommend using a round tip to make a dollop instead.

At this point you could drizzle them with a bit of caramel sauce.  The sugar decorations are totally optional.  I had fun playing with them.   I followed the instructions from sprinkle bakes, but found that the temperature is very important.  I used this temperature chart.  From that chart I selected the hard crack stage to cook to which was 300 to 310 degrees.  On the early end of this is a lighter color and toward the higher end is pretty dark and a bit burnt tasting.

 

To get some fun shapes I used little bowls.  I think I liked the flat ones just as well.  I put these on parchment paper coated in cooking spray.  The bowls were also well coated with cooking spray.  Making these was harder than I had imagined.  The caramel just coated the bottom of the pan so getting it on the spoon was difficult and it cools quickly making it extra tough.  Give yourself plenty of counter space to drizzle so you can do a lot of them quickly and practice.  Also, you may want to sprinkle on some coarse sugar as you go.  Mine cooled a bit too quickly.  I also finally found coarse crystal sugar at of all places TJ Maxx of all places.

The final product was pretty and delicious.  The great part about these is the balance.  The salt keeps them from being too sickly sweet and the caramel adds nice depth of flavor.  I'll be making these again soon so I'll update you if there are any improvements!  Good luck!

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcakes

Not quite in time for Christmas, (not even close) but maybe for Valentine's Day, these are my most complimented cupcakes.  They are red velvet cupcakes, stuffed with a mini cheesecake and topped with cream cheese frosting. 

A couple of years ago, I was asked to make a wedding cake for a friend.  It was my second wedding cake and even though I thought I would never make a second one,  I had to admit that I got a bit of a thrill out of making the first one.  So I said yes.  I met with the bride and groom to see what they wanted.  They asked if I could possibly do a red velvet cheesecake, something like the one at the cheesecake factory. Basically it is a cheesecake stacked with a red velvet cake. 

 

I wasn't entirely convinced that I could do that, but I really have problems with saying no.  I offered to make them a small test cake to try it out, and the results were somewhat magical.  Scaling it up to wedding cake size was not a great idea, but it worked out.  Scaling it down to cupcake size turned out to be an instant hit.  I believe it was Meredith who first put them into cupcake form.  These are great for Christmas in green wrappers or with holly and berry decorations like I did here.  They would also be great for Valentine's Day, topped with hearts!   

 

The first step can be done ahead and frozen.  Make a small batch of cheesecake batter and bake it in mini cupcake wrappers.  You can just bake a cheesecake and cut it into pieces, but this is easier in my opinion.  

Even though the batter is a bit runny, I still use my cookie scoop to fill the wrappers.  I don't get too particular with the cheesecakes since they will be somewhat hidden inside the cupcake.

Meredith and I also discovered that if these are baked without a water bath, they have a little divot in them that is just perfect for a little bit of raspberry sauce or some other kind of sauce for other cupcakes.  If you use a water bath, the come out more flat.

As usual, the cupcakes start with a boxed mix.  I use the same recipe that I use for chocolate cake, just substituting a red velvet cake mix and white chocolate pudding mix for the chocolate cake and pudding mixes.  I have started sifting these on the way in.  It isn't absolutely necessary, but I've run into problems with lumps on very rare occasions (especially if a mix gets pushed to the back of the cabinet a little too long). 

The best part of doing red velvet cake this way is not having to mess with food coloring.  It is already in the mix!

Once you have cooled cupcakes and cheesecakes, you can get ready to stuff the cupcakes.  I use a cupcake corer that has a little springy plunger to push the cores out.  You could substitute a knife here.  Just be careful to get the holes approximately the size of the little cheesecakes.

One important little step is to line up the cupcake cores so you know which cupcake they came out of.  Even though my corer should make the hole the same size each time, they just fit better when they are matched with the right cupcake.  I didn't believe this at first, but I am a firm believer after not lining them up once.

MMMM....

Once you have the cupcakes cored, peel the cheesecakes out of the wrappers and stuff in the holes.  The next step is to put the little cores back on top and press them down.  You can skip this step, say if you didn't keep them in order, or perhaps ate half of them.

From here, fill a piping bag with cream cheese frosting.  If you don't have a big round tip, you can just cut the end of the bag.  This was the first time I had a big round tip, and it was much easier.  It was definitely worth my $1.95.

Round tip - worth it, buying colored frosting - NOT WORTH IT.  I didn't want to bother trying to dye frosting just for a couple little decorations, so I thought I was being really smart buying pre-made.  For the little I was going to use the taste wouldn't matter.  What a pain!  Just squeezing it out of the packaging to put it in a piping bag so I could use the tips I wanted took super human strength.  Problem number two was that it was a very light/bright red.  Not exactly the elegant or sophisticated red berry color I was hoping for.  The green had the same problem.  It was a very light bright green.  It just didn't scream ivy.  So I ended up dying the frosting anyway and thinning it out with some of the cream cheese frosting.  I need to remember not to bother buying pre-dyed frosting again.  This seems like something I would forget in the future. 

So I finally got my frosting in a piping bag.  To make the leaves, I used Wilton tip #352.  Hold it vertical, like a bird beak and squeeze until the leaf is the width that you want it, then slowly start moving up to shape the leaf. Practice on a plate or a scrap of parchment to get a feel for it.  Once I started the leaf and moved up, I would come back down a little trying to make it look a little more like ivy.  I put two leaves together on each cupcake.

 

For the berries, a small round tip will work, #3, #4, or #5 is about right.  If there is a little point on each berry, wait for them to stiffen up a bit, then with a damp finger, push the points down to round out the berries.  Of course if you are making these for a non Christmas occasion, you'll have to experiment with different decorations. 

 I do have to promote one more thing that I think is a must have if you like to bake cupcakes for a crowd.  I love my Cupcake Courier.  It holds 3 dozen cupcakes and is roomy enough for most decorations.  Enjoy!

Recipes:

Red Velvet Cupcakes adapted from Kevin and Amanda

1 (18.25 ounce) package red velvet cake mix

1 small package instant vanilla or white chocolate pudding mix

1 (8 oz) container of Daisy sour cream (full fat)

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup warm water

2 tsp vanilla

Mix all together, divide into ~24 cupcake liners and bake at 325 degrees until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.  Clean is too done.  I start with 12 minutes on the timer because I can never remember how long they take.  I think it is actually more like 17 minutes, but check early just to be sure.

Mini Cheesecakes
8 oz. cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 Tbsp. heavy cream (or milk)

For filling cupcakes, I don't worry too much about this.  Just mix together, and fill mini cupcake liners.  Start oven at 400, then reduce to 250 degrees when you put them in the oven.  Bake until they are just set. 

Cream Cheese Frosting
This one is taken from Meredith's blog.  I do keep adding powdered sugar to get a consistency that I like but try not to add too much or it loses it's nice tangy flavor.