This Monday was International Chocolate Day so of course I couldn't resist baking some of my ultimate chocolate cupcakes, but with a delicious twist!
I'm reusing my ultimate chocolate cake recipe, which you can find in my Ultimate Triple Chocolate Cupcakes, Chocolate Mini Egg & Nutella Next Cakes and my Creme Egg Cupcake recipes.
These cupcakes, however, have a different twist, with the addition of my deliciously moreish caramel. It's a sweet, rich, salty flavour profile and its downright gorgeoussss!
The other fantastic thing about baking these is how gloriously easy they are. It's just sponge, caramel, and buttercream. I love it when something is both delicious and simple!
A really great tip for my chocolate batter is to ensure you let it sit in the muffin tin for 20 minutes, then tap the tin on the side before placing in the oven. This ensures any big air bubbles come out, plus they will cook evenly.
I topped mine with Cadbury Caramel Nibbles, which are gluten free. If you use Cadbury Carmel, make sure its nibbles and not the bar, as this has a may contain wheat warning.
Once you've baked, cooled, and filled your cupcakes with caramel, top with a thick layer of your delicious caramel buttercream, and dig in!
Let's get Caking It!
Recipe
180C (170C fan)
Yield: 12 cupcakes
Prep: 20 mins
Bake: 20 mins
Assemble: 10 mins
Ingredients
Sponge
150g gluten free self-raising flour
60g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp gluten free baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
100g caster sugar
50g light brown sugar
100ml vegetable oil (I use sunflower)
3 medium eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
50 ml boiling water with 2 tsp instant coffee
2 tbsp sour cream
Filling & Frosting
100g unsalted butter
300g icing sugar
Caramel (1/2 yield)
Salt
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Method: Sponge
As usual, don't forget to wait until all the ingredients are at room temperature before starting.
Preheat oven to 180C. Fill 12 muffin holes with cases.
Start with the dry ingredients. Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and xanthan gum to a bowl and whisk to fully incorporate.
In a separate bowl, mix the oil, sugars, and vanilla extract. Then, add the eggs one at a time, whisking with an electric whisk between each addition until slightly frothy.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a fork to incorporate. Don’t overmix but ensure that all the ingredients are fully mixed, and the batter is smooth. At this point the batter should be thick.
Boil the water and add the instant coffee to it. Slowly pour it into the batter while mixing until it is glossy. This will take some welly but keep persevering because the batter will become smooth, glossy and a delicious brown shiny colour.
Add the sour cream to the cake batter and give it a final quick mix to incorporate.
Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases, adding 1 and 1/2 tbsp to each case and let sit for 20 minutes, then bake for 20 minutes. A skewer inserted into the sponge will come out clean.
Method: Buttercream
I could honestly eat this salted caramel buttercream with a spoon, but I won't because it tastes so amazing with the chocolate sponge!
While the sponges are cooling, make to the buttercream.
Cream the butter until pale, and gradually add in the icing sugar until it is all incorporated. You can do this either with a standing mixer, an electric hand whisk, or a fork. At this point the mixture should be a little stiff.
Add 2 tbsp of the caramel and 2 tsps salt and mix until fully incorporated. If you're nervous about incorporating salt into your cupcakes, add 1 tsp and taste, and then another.
Assembly
Making sure the sponges are completely cool, scoop out the middle of the cupcake with an apple corer, taking care not to go right down to the bottom.
Spoon a little salted caramel into each cupcake hole.
Pipe on a good layer of the salted caramel buttercream.
Finish with a chocolate caramel sweet.
Enjoy!
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