Chocolate Salty Caramel Cupcakes

Caramel? Check.
Chocolate? Check.
Sea salt? Check.

You can't get much better than salty caramel. But wait, salty caramel and chocolate? Yeah, that's the stuff. I used my favorite chocolate cake recipe for these cupcakes, Ina Garten's Beatty's Chocolate Cake. It's the lightest, moistest chocolate cake you'll ever have the pleasure of eating. I topped it with caramel buttercream and a sprinkle of sea salt. It's even better than it sounds! The only way this cupcake can get any better if there was a drizzle of caramel sauce on top. Making a mental note of that for next time.

I decided to make the caramel from scratch and, boy, was it amazing. I'll post the recipe for that very soon. You can also use store bought caramel sauce or melted caramel candy, but I prefer making it from scratch.


Ingredients:

Chocolate Cake:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Caramel Buttercream:
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature (3 sticks
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup Caramel Paste (or store bought caramel sauce)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
Sea salt to sprinkle on top

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix together the flour, sugar cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

 

 
2. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to your flour mixture. Then, add the coffee and mix until just combined. Bake in cupcake tins for for 15 to 18 minutes.

3. Beat the softened butter and powdered sugar until fluffy.

4. Add the caramel. Mix in the heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. beat until light and fluffy.

5. Pipe on top of cupcakes and sprinkle with sea salt.