Truly indulgent salted caramel cupcakes are perfect for treating yourself or your loved one.
Created by Alison Tregoning at Serendipity Cake Company.
Light moist toffee sponge filled with salted caramel and topped with a velvety swirl of salted caramel buttercream.
There is no doubt that salted caramel is here to stay, its creamy sugary saltiness is everything that our taste buds crave.
The heavily salted butter caramels have long been a traditional treat in Brittany but in the 1990s Pierre Hermé, the Parisian pastry chef, invented a salted caramel macaron. From that day the world has never looked back.
A Little information about the Ingredients
Fast forward a few years and this Parisian patisserie favourite is now a mainstream and much loved flavour for ice creams, cakes, chocolate, macarons and much more.
The sticky indulgent addictiveness of salted caramel is now a favourite in the UK and widely used by gastro geeks and home cooks alike. it also happens to be the perfect accompaniment to the other foodie cult, the cupcake.
Ingredients are important in this recipe. You need for example to use sea salt flakes not table salt. Table salt is more heavily processed to eliminate minerals and usually contains an additive to prevent clumping. Sea salt is produced through evaporation of sea water, usually with little processing. Sea salt also has different coarseness levels and a little bit of a crunch, this means you get a little burst of salty taste sensation in every bite.
Use butter not margarine, and vanilla extract not essence, double cream not single or whipping cream. We are talking complete indulgence here. Many cake disasters occur because the wrong ingredients have been used or the recipe has not been followed. Preachy teachy bit over, let’s get on with baking.
Here’s a heads up about Sprinkles. Let your imagination run wild, you want to make these really special. I Have used tiny gold balls (Non Pareils) from Purple Cupcakes and sugar paste hearts I made myself. For real indulgent luxury though you can buy the most amazing sprinkles from the USA’s Sweetapolita, cakecraftcompany.com distributes in uk.
A few tips and advice before starting baking
- Don’t put the oven on yet, its a waste of energy, wait for a bit longer, I’ll let you know when.
- It’s best to make your salted caramel first, it needs to stiffen up and cool down a bit
- Put your cupcake cases in your muffin tray now, you won’t have time when the mixture is made. Any delay from mixture being ready to putting your cupcakes in the oven will reduce the rise of your cupcake. As soon as it is made pop them in the oven. There’s a whole chemical reaction thing going on.
- Labour saving equipment – if you are going to make a fair amount of cupcakes an ice cream scoop and a cake corer could make your life easier. I got my cake corer from eBay.
- Sift your flour, really? yes, it does make a difference
- Get your butter out the fridge to soften 2 hours in advance
- All ingredients need to be at room temperature.
AuthorAlison TregoningCategoryCupcakesDifficultyBeginnerHeat the caster sugar and 3 tablespoons of water (45ml) over a gentle heat until the sugar is dissolved.
Increase the heat and cook the caramel (without stirring) for 2 to 3 minutes, watching al the time. The caramel should be evenly golden, shake the saucepan if it is colouring irregularly.
Remove the pan from the heat immediately you have achieved golden and add the cream, CAUTION it will splutter a bit so be very careful.
Add the vanilla Extract and the salt, mix well. Taste and adjust saltiness to your liking.
Let cool completely, it will thicken up as it cools
Beat your butter on its own until light and fluffy.
Add your icing sugar carefully to the butter, fold in as much icing sugar as you can before beating to combine, otherwise you will have a sugar dust cloud that will take ages to clear up.
Add your teaspoon of boiling water and half the salted caramel, combine well
Cream your butter and sugar together really well, this can take a while especially if your butter has not come up to room temperature fully. Use a hand whisk if you have one, the colour of the mixture should be really pale and it should be soft and fluffy. Just keep going if you are unsure.
Put your oven on now at 170C Fan or 190C other
Whisk your eggs together in a separate bowl, add your vanilla extract and 1 Tablespoon (15ml) of milk, mix well.
Mix your self raising flour and baking powder together then sieve into a separate bowl.
Dust your small fudge pieces in flour (if you don't they may sink to the bottom)
Add your beaten egg, milk and vanilla mixture 1 tablespoon at a time to your butter and sugar mixture and beat really well until each tablespoon of egg is full incorporated. I take a long time to do this bit because if you incorporate the egg well, your mixture will not curdle.
Now very carefully fold the flour into your cake mixture
Fill your cupcake case 2/3 full of batter. This is where an ice cream scoop can come in handy.
Sprinkle your fudge evenly over the top of the cupcakes
Put in the oven for 15 to 16 minutes. They are ready when you press the top of them and they bounce back.
When your cupcakes have cooled (about 30 minutes) use your cupcake corer to remove a small piece of cake or, Using a knife Simply cut the center of your cupcake out by inserting your knife at a 45 degree angle. You will cut out a “cone” of cupcake. Now you can discard that little bit of cupcake
Fill your cupcakes with salted caramel
Prepare a piping bag with the nozzle of your choice, fill with with your buttercream and pipe a lovely luscious swirl of velvety buttercream on each cupcake. Finish with sprinkles of your choice.
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