Martha Stewart's Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Chocolate, caramel and salt are probably my favorite sweet combo as of late. I wanted to make something sweet for a coworker's birthday and had pinned this recipe a while ago. They were YUMMY! I made full-sized cupcakes, although the original recipe is for mini-cupcakes. They were very rich so if I ever made them again I think I will go with the minis. I pulled the recipe from the blog 52 Cupcakes:  http://52cupcakes.blogspot.com/2009/09/martha-stewarts-chocolate-salted.html

 Cupcake Ingredients

1.5 cups all-purpose flour 

3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder*

1.5 cups sugar 

1.5 tsp baking soda 
3/4 tsp baking powder 

3/4 tsp salt 

2 large eggs 

3/4 cup buttermilk 

3 tbsp vegetable oil 

1 tsp pure vanilla extract 

3/4 cup warm water 

*Make sure you get the Dutch-process cocoa - there is a difference

Salted Caramel Filling Ingredients:

2.5 cups sugar 

2/3 cup water 

1 tbsp light corn syrup

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream 

2.5 tsp sea salt*

*The recipe calls for preferably fleur de sel sea salt, but I just used what I had in the apt. 

Dark Chocolate Frosting Ingredients:

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp boiling water 

2 1/4 cups (4 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp 

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted 

1/4 tsp salt 

1.5 lbs semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Cupcake Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F, line muffin tin with paper liners. Whisk together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat in eggs, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and water until combined.









Fill the liners about two-thirds full. Bake approximately 15 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. Transfer tins to wire racks and allow to cool for 10 minutes; remove cupcakes from tin, place on racks and let cool completely.




Once cooled, use a paring knife to cut a cone-shaped hole from the center of each cupcake (the recipe said to "throw away the pieces"...yeah right...I ate them!). 

Salted Caramel Directions:
Place sugar, water and corn syrup in a large saucepan over high heat, stirring occasionally, until syrup is clear. Cook until syrup comes to a boil. Boil, gently swirling pan occasionally, until mixture is caramelized - this will look like an light amber. The recipe specifies that the caramel will be done once it reaches 360°F - unfortunately I don't have a candy thermometer and just had to eyeball it. 

Remove rom heat and slowly pour in cream; stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Stir in sea salt.
Use immediately; if caramel begins to harden reheat gently until pourable.

*I made the mistake of making this first. I allowed the caramel to cool and and then spooned it into the cupcakes. I didn't realize at the time that this had allowed the salt to settle on the bottom of the bowl. So, moral of the story: if you allow the caramel to cool a bit, make sure you stir it thoroughly before spooning into cupcakes.

Spoon 1 to 2 teaspoons warm filling into each hollowed-out cupcake...it will sink into the cupcake a little, just fill it up a bit more. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over filling.




Frosting Directions:

In a small bowl, combine cocoa and boiling water, stirring until cocoa has dissolved. 



In a large bowl, beat butter, confectioners' sugar, and salt until fluffy.  Add melted and cooled chocolate, beating until combined and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in the cocoa mixture. 

Frost each cupcake and garnish with a pinch of sea salt. Store at room temperature in airtight containers.

Amelia says "Enjoy!"