Caramel Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting and a Salted Caramel Topper 5/5 Spoons

Look at that name, what a mouthful!

So I made these gorgeous cupcakes for a New Year's Eve party and I think they turned out quite professional looking if I do say so myself. Although it's never my intention to be "professional" per se but I like knowing I can make a beautiful product that appeals to the eye.... and the stomach.

The cupcakes orgininally were part of a Salted Caramel Trio and I only used the cupcake and caramel topping component in my dessert. The cupcakes were really moist and delicious and full of that dark, caramel-y brown sugar that I love. As for the Chocolate Buttercream frosting, I kind of tweaked this recipe a bit to make it less sweet (the way I like it). Here are my notes:

Cupcakes:

-- Um, I honestly don't think I changed anything here. I would say to up the salt component a tad more but beyond that, I loved these.

Frosting:

-- My recipe plays off of this one but I cut the cocoa down to 1/2 c., the sugar down to 1 1/2 c. and use a thicker milk. Honestly this last time my butter was too soft so I had to bump the sugar up to 2 c., so just be careful about that. And this is a really good vegan frosting, just so you know.

As for the Salted Caramel topper (see link above), that was probably my favorite part. I was so freaked out I was doing the caramel wrong but it just look a little while for it to get going. Once caramel starts, it stops for no man. Keep an eye on it. Once it starts to get just a tad golden brown, PULL IT OFF THE STOVE. There is so much residual heat in your pan that it will keep cooking until it is perfectly set. I didn't do the fancy parchment paper over the rolling pin thing. I just took a piece of greased parchment paper and drizzled the caramel all over with a spoon. Make sure to salt (or sugar) the candy before it completely sets or it will all fall off. It was so much fun to make candy and I look forward to doing it much more.

So overall, amazing recipe. It really only has one more component than a regular ol' cupcake but that extra 10 minutes is so worth it.

And I promised to have a giveaway for my 1 year anniversary but lo and behold, I have none. I am working on figuring out what I want to give away, so be patient and keep reading! Happy New Year folks!



Check out my recipe at Sweet as Sugar Cookies along tons of other delicious recipes as well! Just click above. : )

Vegan (Almost) Caramel Sauce 5/5 Spoons

So my lovely vegan friend Kris Anne (who has a wonderful food blog) has been awesome about sending me recipes I might want to try. We have been discussing caramels as a gift/Christmas treat this past week and I'm not sure she had very good luck. But I decided to venture into candy making territory except not really. I decided to just make a caramel sauce instead of candies. I was out of Earth Balance sticks so I had to use my Safeway O Organics Unsalted Sweet Cream Butter I had in the fridge. I swear I will make this vegan someday.



I had a craving for caramel popcorn last night and I was certainly not going to go to the store at 10 pm. And since I had meant to make candies, I figured I would just try to make caramel sauce instead and used this recipe. I am not a candy maker and I have never made anything caramel related from scratch. It was pretty darn easy. I used all the same ingredients (except for the margarine part) and just kept an eye on the pot. Just swirl a few times and scrap the bottom with a rubber spatula. Really you can just let this do its thing and just wait for it to turn a dark golden brown color. I halved the recipe just fine and it made about 2 cups of sauce. The flavor is deeply dark and sweet along with being just the right amount of buttery. And if you want a kick ass treat... make some popcorn and pour a bunch of this on, let it cool and munch away. It was ridiculous.

Whatever you do, don't try to eat some of it off the spatula! I am stupid and was desperate for a taste and burnt my finger like crazy. This stuff is like burning hot glue and won't come off your finger unless you peel it off with your teeth and even then, the damage is done.

When I woke up this morning I wanted to see how it held up and it was rock hard after being in the fridge. You definitely have to heat this up before using it or let it sit at room temp for quite awhile. Once I heated it up (and dipped apple slices in it, yum) it tasted just as good as last night. Just make sure to stay by the microwave, mine bubbled over when I walked away and it was a bastard to clean it up.

I give this recipe:

5/5 spoons!

I realize how many 5/5 spoons I give but that's just because I love food, haha. Either I will dislike something or totally love it. There is rarely an in between for me. So coming this Christmas week I have Spicy Fried Sesame Tofu, my favorite Vegetable Soup with Dumplings recipe (yup, a Rachael Ray recipe, but just trust me) and another favorite recipe for X-Mas Cookies and Icing. See you soon!