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Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting (Vanilla-Salted Caramel)

I am pretty sure that I heard angels singing Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Frostingwith Vanilla-Salted Caramel when I bit into these cupcakes. Honestly, I think I did. The combination of chocolate cake and caramel was perfect. So good. As usual, I ate too much of them 😉

I used Hershey’s Perfectly Chocolate Cake, as I usually do for chocolate cake. It always turns out moist and tender and perfectly chocolatey, as the title would suggest. I also used my stand-by vanilla buttercream and added caramel sauce to it. I cannot wait to make these again and find more uses for caramel sauce!


Chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting (Vanilla-Salted Caramel buttercream) Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 cup boiling water

For the buttercream:

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 ¾ cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons caramel sauce
  • 2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions

For cupcakes:

  1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease muffin tin or line with paper liners.
  2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
  3. In the bowl (you can use the bowl of your stand mixer), combine eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Mix until well blended.
  4. Add flour mixture to a large bowl and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
  5. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4 full.
  6. Bake 20 to 24 minutes. Cool completely.

For buttercream:

  1. In a standing mixer (with a whisk attachment), whisk the butter for about 20 seconds at medium-high speed until smooth.
  2. Add sugar and salt; beat for about 45 seconds at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened.
  3. Scrape down bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined about 15 seconds; scrape the bowl, add vanilla, caramel sauce, and heavy cream. Beat for about 10 seconds at medium speed until incorporated. Increase speed to medium-high and beat for 4 min until the mixture is light and fluffy, scraping down bowl once or twice.
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