Salted caramel cupcakes.

For me, Christmas is the time for baking, eating, and filling the house with sweet festive smell. I love the idea of handing homemade baked goods when people come over during this time of the year.

I made these cupcakes using my homemade caramel sauce. It's actually my first time making my own sauce and I failed the first try (good thing I have enough ingredients to make another batch). Caramel sauce can be really tricky to make but it's all worth the effort and time!

For Chocolate Cupcakes:

Yield: 12-15 cupcakes

1 cup of all-purpose flour

1 cup of granulated sugar

⅓ cup  of Cocoa powder

1 teaspoon of baking soda

½ teaspoon of baking powder

½ teaspoon of salt

1 egg, at room temperature

½ cup of buttermilk, at room temperature

½ cup of strong

 black coffee, hot

¼ cup of vegetable oil

1½ teaspoons of pure vanilla extract

For Salted Caramel Swiss Meringue buttercream:

5 egg whites, at room temperature

1¼ cups of granulated sugar

1 ½ cup (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ cup of homemade salted caramel sauce

2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract

For Salted Caramel Sauce:

2 cups of granulated sugar

12 tablespoons of unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces

1 cup of heavy cream, at room temperature

1 tablespoon of fleur de sel or Maldon sea salt flakes

For the cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners

2. Sift together all the dry ingredients, and mix it in a large bowl

3. In a medium bowl, combine all the wet ingredients using a whisk

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until combined

5. The batter will be thin. Divide evenly among the cupcake liners

6. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Then cool cupcakes completely.

For the salted caramel sauce:

1.  Melt the sugar in a saucepan. Keep whisking until everything is melted. When the sugar is melted, stop whisking and just swirl the pan to move the sugar around

2. Continue cooking the sugar until it reaches a deep amber colour (Make sure you don’t burn the caramel!!!).

3. As soon as the sugar reaches the dark amber colour, CAREFULLY add the butter. Whisk until melted (you can definitely switch to a wooden spoon)

4. Remove the pan from the heat and slowly pour in the heavy cream. Whisk in the sea salt until completely combined

5. Let the caramel sauce cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Pour the caramel into a jar and cool to room temperature. Put the sauce in the refrigerator and you can store it for about a month

For the meringue buttercream:

1. Whisk together sugar and egg whites in a heatproof mixing bowl over a simmering water. Whisk until sugar is dissolved completely. Remove from heat

2. Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg white mixture until stiff and glossy peaks form (~10 minutes)

3. Add butter one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.

4. Mix the salted caramel into the buttercream

5. Use immediately!

Merry Christmas everyone and I'm wishing you all the best in life!

Happy baking & see you guys next year!

Much love,

Jedi