My new go-to recipe when I need to take something special to someone’s get together? These small-batch chocolate cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream, of course.
Soft chocolatey cupcakes, filled with homemade salted caramel, and piped sky high with cream cheese and salted caramel frosting. The perfect cupcake to celebrate all things chocolate and caramel.
Chocolate Cupcakes with a Salted Carmel Filling
The perfect treats are those that blur the lines between sugary and salty. These small-batch chocolate cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream fit into that perfect grey zone. Using an apple corer, I remove the centre of the cupcake and fill it with a thick and sticky homemade salted caramel sauce. And then you bite into the centre of this cupcake that caramel surprise is a real treat.
Ingredients Needed for Small Batch Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream
As always, I like to make delicious bakes from simple, easy to find ingredients. The ingredients you will need for these small-batch chocolate cupcakes with salted buttercream are
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Sunflower oil
- Cake flour
- Salt
- Strong quality coffee
- Cocoa powder
- Full cream milk
- Sea salt
- Whipping cream
- Unsalted butter
- Icing sugar
- Cream cheese
How to Make the Perfect Chocolate Caramel Cupcake
When making chocolate anything there are two important considerations. The first is the quality of chocolate you are using. In this case, the cocoa powder. You need to make sure it is a quality cocoa powder as this will hugely impact the taste of your cupcakes.
Secondly, I always add coffee to the batter of my chocolate bakes. Quality strong brewed coffee helps enhance the chocolatey flavour of the bake. These are the most important considerations when baking the perfect chocolate cupcake. And the perfect chocolate cupcake recipe is absolutely necessary for these delicious chocolate and caramel cupcakes!
How to Make Homemade Sea Salted Caramel
Let’s all agree, salted caramel is here to stay. On any given day you can find a jar of homemade sea salted caramel sitting pretty in my fridge. Firstly, because it is delicious and secondly, I can't stop since I learned how to make caramel without it crystallizing. Pretty proud. Caramel of any sort has always been tricky to get right for me. But if you follow the method in this recipe you can’t go wrong.
Apparently, this way of making caramel is called the dry caramel method. This means that water is not added to sugar when you start making it on the stovetop. And this makes all the difference, I haven’t had an unsuccessful batch.
In the recipe below for homemade sea salted caramel, you will see that the recipe starts by adding granulated sugar to a pot set over medium heat. You whisk continuously until all the sugar has melted. Once the sugar has melted, allow the sugar to turn a medium amber colour. This happens very fast and without realizing you can actually burn your caramel, so please be patient with the heat and be careful.
Next, the cream is added and then the cubed butter. The hot caramel will bubble viciously so be prepared for this and keep stirring until the caramel is smooth and combined. Whisk through the sea salt, be careful that it has melted and not settled at the bottom of the pot. Lastly, before you add the caramel to the salted caramel buttercream be sure that it is cool! Like I often am, if you are in a rush, let the caramel cool in the fridge (or even freezer) but do not ever add warm caramel to the buttercream. The caramel must be cold and thick.
How to Make Salted Caramel Buttercream
As the flavour suggests the most important component to get right is the sea salted caramel. If you follow the tips above for the perfect homemade sea salted caramel, this shouldn’t be a problem. When the caramel is cooled, have a taste and be sure that it doesn’t taste burnt. This has happened to me before and rather than ruin a batch of icing be sure that the caramel hasn’t been taken too far.
To make the buttercream it is important to have your butter at room temperature. Since this recipe also includes cream cheese do not overlook this requirement. If you add cool cream cheese to icing sugar and butter when the butter is still cold and has not formed small enough lumps. You will end up with a lumpy buttercream and no amount of mixing will be able to save it. You want a thick creamy buttercream that pipes perfectly and holds its shape so be sure to follow this tip!
Easy Small Batch Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes Recipe Making 12 Cupcakes
Most of the recipes I share on my blog are for 24 cupcakes, but this recipe is the perfect recipe for making a batch of special cupcakes for a few special people. A dinner party, a small birthday celebration (hello covid), or an office surprise.
Tips for Making the Perfect Cupcake
These are my top tips for making the perfect cupcakes
- Know your oven, cupcakes are pretty small so the last thing you want is to be baking them in a super-hot oven. The bottoms will burn and you will be sad.
- Be sure you have a smooth lump free batter before filling the cupcake cases, you need to ensure that the mixture has mixed evenly and that all of the ingredients are dispersed.
- Don’t fill the cupcake cases more that ¾ of the way full, otherwise you won’t have that perfect dome to pipe and the batter will spill over the sides of the cases when baking.
- Wait until the cupcakes are cooled before icing them, if you are in a rush remove them from the cupcake oven tray and place them in the fridge until they are no longer warm.
- Be sure you icing is well mixed, light and creamy before filling your piping bag. It is impossible to get the perfect cupcake swirl if your salted caramel buttercream hasn’t been beaten for long enough.
I hope you have fun eating and making these mall batch chocolate cupcakes with salted buttercream! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below or tag me in your creations on Instagram.
Looking for a chocolate cupcake recipe, try out this recipe for the perfect classic chocolate cupcake
Happy Baking
With Love,
Kitty
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes
Ingredients
Small-Batch Chocolate Cupcakes
- 60 grams sunflower oil
- 2 eggs
- 150 grams self-raising flour
- 50 grams cocoa powder
- pinch salt
- 125 grams sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 170 grams milk
- 100 grams strong brewed coffee
Homemade Sea Salted Caramel
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup whipping cream
- 85 grams unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
Cream Cheese and Salted Caramel Icing
- 250 grams icing sugar
- 40 grams unsalted butter
- 100 grams cream cheese
- ⅓ cup salted caramel
Instructions
Small Batch Chocolate Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 12 hole cupcake tray with cupcake papers.
- In a bowl of an electric mixer, add the oil, eggs and sugar. Beat on high speed until well combined.
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and salt together and add this to the egg mixture. Beat until combined.
- In a jug add the coffee, milk, and vanilla essence. In a steady stream with the mixer running add the milk mixture to the batter. Mix until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure there are no lumps.
- Fill the cupcakes ¾ of the way full and bake in a preheated oven for about 12 minutes or until cooked. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Sea Salted Caramel
- Add the sugar to a small pot set over medium heat. Whisk until the sugar has melted.
- Allow the sugar to turn an amber colour and then add the cream. The caramel will bubble so be careful. Once the cream has been mixed in, add the cubed butter and whisk the caramel until it is well combined. Whisk through the sea salt.
- Pour the caramel into a glass jar and allow the caramel to cool.
Salted Caramel Cream Cream Frosting
- In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the icing sugar and room temperature butter. Beat on medium speed until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Add the cubed cream cheese and beat on high speed until the frosting is nice and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that the frosting is beating evenly.
- Add the cooled caramel and beat again and well combined.
- Using an apple corer, remove the centre of each cupcake and fill with the sea salted caramel.
- Fill a piping bag fitted with your chosen nozzle with the salted caramel cream cheese frosting and pipe a swirl onto each cupcake. Drizzle with extra caramel and enjoy!
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